i need to name this
by marigold1
Summary: Buffy/X-Men crossover, with Angel in there later. Logan and Rogue go to Sunnydale to investigate Logan's past. Hmmmm. Maybe the Initiative had something to do with that. Updated! R/R!!
1. Chapter 1

Title – 

Author – marigold

Disclaimer – not mine

Summary – Buffy/Angel/X-Men crossover; Logan and Rogue go to Sunnydale to investigate Logan's past. .

Author's Note –  takes place around beginning of BuffyS7, Angel S4, and after X-Men movie.  It also includes some info from the X-Men comics.  If you recognize it, cool.  If not, I hope it doesn't confuse you.  I used to have tons of notes throughout this story, but after one specific review and the realization that it has been some time since the events in my little notes took place, I decided to repost everything cleanly.  Here's the story.  Enjoy!  And please review.

Canada

Logan searched the abandoned military base Professor Xavier had told him about after the ordeal with Magneto.  The whole place was a mess; it looked like someone, or something, had attacked this place.  There were a few bloodstains on the walls and floors, and there were equipment and paper everywhere.  Logan sifted through the papers for a while, finding nothing that might help him.  Just as he was about to give up, one piece of paper caught his eye.  It was an e-mail with the subject "Weapon X".  Logan's eyes widened as he read the contents of the message:

            Operation: Weapon X is almost completed.  Adamantium operation was successful, but subject Wolverine shows some resistance to mental conditioning.  Friction is growing between Wolverine and Sabertooth.  Contact Professor Walsch of The Initiative branch in Sunnydale, California.

            Logan shoved the paper in his pocket and smiled to himself.  He might finally find some information on his origins.  He looked around the abandoned silo some more, but finding nothing, gave up.  He left the building and climbed onto his (well, Cyclop's) motorcycle.  He contemplated going straight to Sunnydale to look for this Professor Walsch guy, but decided against it after realizing that the Prof could give him some information on this Initiative thing.

Salem, NY

            Logan was once again preparing to climb onto his motorcycle when Rogue came up to him.  He smiled as she came up.  

            "You runnin' again?" she asked, just like she had last time he left; it was becoming something of a tradition with them.

            "Yeah, I found about this place in California that might have some information about me."

            "I hate it when you leave.  Can't I go with you this time?" she asked, only half 

joking.  "I've always wanted to go to California," she added with a smile. 

            "It won't be beaches and celebrities, kid.  It might be dangerous, and I don't want you getting hurt.  Plus, it would get in the way of school.  Wouldn't you miss that new bub, Remy?" he teased her.  

            Rogue blushed at his last comment, but continued pressing.  "It's summer, Logan.  I could help you look for information.  And c'mon, how dangerous can a town with a name like 'Sunnydale' be?"  When she saw he was weakening, she added, "And besides, the Professor already said I could.  He said it would be good for you to have some company, and it would be good for me to get out of the mansion."  

            Logan knew she had a point, and he knew she knew he realized that.  She still had nightmares about the incident at Liberty Island, not to mention dreams of stolen memories from himself and Magneto (he could only imagine how horrible they were).  They were less frequent, but no less unsettling.  It might do her some good to get away from all these reminders, if only for a short time.  "Fine," he smiled, "let's get you packed up."

            "Already done.  Just have to get my bags," Rogue said excitedly, "Thanks so much, Logan!"  

As Rogue ran off back into the mansion, Logan climbed off the motorcycle.  'Guess I can't drive us cross-country on that' he thought wryly, 'I'll have to find a new ride.'  No more than an hour later, Rogue and Logan were on their way to Sunnydale, California, in a jeep they'd taken from among the Institute's many vehicles.

Sunnydale, California

            When Rogue and Logan arrived in Sunndale, it was a little before sunset.  They checked into adjoining rooms in a motel near a cemetery.  After they each got settles into their rooms, Rogue went into Logan's room and sat on a bed.

            "Sure are a lot of cemeteries here, aren't there, sugar?" she asked

            "Yeah, I noticed that.  Wonder what they could need them all for?" he speculated aloud.  _I shouldn't have brought her here,_ he thought, _it's dangerous.  Something here is making lots of people die._

            Sensing Logan's unease, Rogue quickly changed the subject.  "So, I figured we could look for this Professor Walsch tonight, and then talk to her tomorrow, after we know a little about her.  Does that sound good?"

            "Yeah, that's fine."

            "I thought that, since she's a professor and all, I could check the high school, and you could check the college.  The e-mail didn't specify which she came from, right?"  At Logan's nod, she continued, "Plus, we can sneak around better at night, ya know?"

            Logan paused a while, contemplating this.  "It might be dangerous," he said finally.

            "Well, we both have cell phones, and the X-Men communicators the Scott lent us.  If anything happens, I can reach you.  I promise I'll be safe, and I won't take chances."

            Again, Logan was quiet for a moment before responding, "Alright.  But you call me immediately if anything, and I mean _anything_, seems off, OK?"

            "OK."

            Logan walked around the college campus looking for anything out of the ordinary.  Nothing seemed wrong; some students were walking around, and he could hear a frat party going on in one of the nearby houses.  He saw a student walking towards the dorm and stopped him.  Logan asked the teen, whom he realized was drunk, "Hey, bub, do you know where I could find Professor Walsch?"

            "I think she used to teach Psych 101 or something."  The student then walked off and vomited into some nearby bushes.

            Logan was a little disappointed, but at least he got some information out of the kid.  He would have called the psychology department, but he didn't know the number.  After contemplating what to do, he just decided to snoop some more before heading back to the motel.

Meanwhile…

            It had taken Rogue a while to find the high school because it was new, and not everyone was sure of where it was.  She tried to find out what happened to the old one, but some stupid kid had just told her it exploded.  She walked around the school grounds, trying to be quiet and peaking into windows, but she found nothing of interest.  As she tiredly looked into one last window, she didn't notice the figure looming up behind her until it was too late.

             Spike had gone outside from his semi-apartment under the school to get a smoke.  He needed to be outside right now.  For some reason, he just felt more at peace when he was outside than when he was inside, confined, enclosed.  _But then again _he thought _I don't deserve peace, do I?_  He hated having a soul, he wished he could go back to being the soulless Spike he used to be.  Before…everything had happened.  Before he had been chipped, before he fell in love with Buffy, (_I can't believe I even thought she could love me back! _he thought sadly,_ I'm evil and don't deserve her love._), before they started sleeping together, (_Of course she was using me?  What else am I good for?_), before he had tried to rape her (_More evilness_), and before he tried to be like his old self (_I miss me_).  He was almost tempted to wait for sunrise when he spotted a young girl with a white streak in her brown hair completely oblivious to a vampire sneaking up behind her.  Without thinking, he dropped his cigarette and ran after the girl, but he didn't have enough time.  The vamp grabbed the girl, who tried to push away from him, but to no avail; he was too strong for her.  Then he sank his fangs into the girl.

            What he saw next made Spike stop in his tracks.  The vamp drank from the girl for a few seconds before shifting out of vamp face into the demon's smooth human face, which grew disfigured as all his veins and arteries seemed to appear on his face until finally, he lost his grip on the girl and collapsed to the ground.  The girl looked down at the vamp, and when she looked up at Spike, he saw she had a vamp face on, although he swore he could almost feel her blood rushing through her veins.


	2. Chapter 2

            Rogue closed her eyes, trying to steady herself as all the thoughts and memories, up until this moment, of the vampire _named Alex c_ame into her head.  _Alex used to be a regular kid on the football team…he was turned by a blonde female vampire…he drained his cheating ex-girlfriend after being turned…he killed an entire family with three small children…the younger they are, the better they taste…killed his parents and turned his sister, she deserved immortality…this girl tastes really good…what the hell is happening to me?_  When she opened her eyes she saw a man with platinum colored hair looking at her with concerned eyes.  She immediately knew he was Spike, a vampire who kills his own kind and is in love with the Slayer.  

            "Stay away from me.  Don't kill me," Rogue managed to croak out.  Her throat 

felt so dry.  It had been days since he (Alex) had fed and she/he was so hungry.  Rogue subconsciously put her gloved hand to her bleeding neck and brought it to her lips to taste it.  

            "I'm not gonna hurt you, pet," Spike said in a cockney accent.

            "You kill our kind…I mean your kind" she amended.  

            Spike didn't know what was wrong with this girl, so he decided to take her somewhere where they could figure it out.  "I know someplace you can go.  There's a girl there.  She can help you."

            Before she knew what she was doing, Rogue exclaimed, "You can't take me to the Slayer, she'll kill me."  She stopped talking for a moment as she tried to sort through unbidden thoughts.  _The Slayer kills vampires.  I'm a vampire.  No, I'm not!  I'm human!  The Slayer helps humans._  _But will she help a mutant?  _Rogue went with her gut feeling and agreed to see the Slayer.  Spike nodded and led Rogue towards Buffy's.

            Spike knocked on the door.  After a moment, it opened and a teenage girl appeared.  Her face fell when she saw Spike.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

            "I need to talk to Big Sis.  It's really important, Dawn," Spike said.

            "Why, feeling horny?  If you want to rape someone why don't you try Anya," Dawn said icily.

            "Bloody hell," Spike muttered, realizing Dawn knew about his…misguided love attempts, to put it nicely.  "This girl really needs help.  She was bitten by a vamp."

            Dawn looked at Rogue for the first time.  Upon seeing the vamp face, she remarked, "She _is_ a vamp, Spike."  

Just then, Rogue saw another girl come to the door and open it wide while saying, "Dawn, who's at the…" she trailed off at the sight of Spike.  "What do you want?" she asked.  Rogue jumped back, frightened of the Slayer, _You're not a vamp, You're not a vamp, You're not a vamp._

"This girl needs help.  She was bitten by a vampire.  And she's not a vamp; she has a heartbeat.  Look, for the sake of this girl, can we please come in?" Spike begged.

The Slayer gave Rogue a once over, and opened the door, to the protests of Dawn.  "Buffy we can't let him in.  What about what he did to you?"

Spike tried to lead Rogue inside, but Rogue, still in a state of panic began screaming, "She's gonna kill me!" she broke down in sobs crying, "Help me, Logan, please," 

"It's alright, love.  No one's gonna hurt you,"  Spike said soothingly.  He took Rogue over to the couch in Buffy's living room and lay her down on it.  

Rogue kept mumbling, "Don't touch me.   Please don't touch me," repeatedly, much to the confusion of the others, who went into the next room to discuss what to do.

"What's her deal?" asked Buffy.

"I don't know," Spike replied, "I saw her get bitten, but then the vamp collapsed and she put on a vamp face.  But she's human, because I can hear her heartbeat."

"Hmmmmm," thinking for a moment, Buffy said, "Are you sure it was a vamp?  Maybe it was some sort of demon that…ummm…turns people into living vamps?  Dawn, call Giles and see if he knows anything about this."

"But Buffy, what about…" her voice trailed off as her eyes flickered over to Spike, who began to find the floor very interesting.

"I'll be fine, Dawn,"  Buffy said.  Turning back to Spike, she continued, "Let's go keep watch over her.  It'll give us something to do while we try to figure out what's going on."  Without waiting for him to reply, she walked back into the living room, and he followed silently.

When they walked in, they noticed two things that surprised them.  First, the girl no longer had a vamp face on.  And second, she had a reflection.  Buffy walked over to her and said, "Are you alright?  Is there anything I can get you?"

The girl nodded, "Can I have some blood…ew…I mean water, please?" she asked in a Southern twang.   

"Sure," Buffy said, trying to sound as nice as possible.  She left to get a glass of water.  When she came back, she saw the girl talking into something.

"Logan?  Logan are you there?" she asked. 

_What is she doing? _Buffy thought.  She was surprised to hear a gruff voice answering saying.

"Rogue, are you okay?  Where are you?"

"I'm okay, it was nothing too bad," the girl, apparently named Rogue, said.

"What happened?"

"Logan," she paused as if unsure whether to say what she was about to say, "I was bitten by a vampire."

"Oh, God.  Are you alright?  Tell me where you are; we're going straight back to the Institute."

"No, Logan.  We came here for a reason, and besides, I'm being taken care of by the Slayer."  Buffy flinched at having her secret identity revealed as she heard Logan say,

"The Slayer!?  What the hell is a Slayer?"

Ignoring Logan, Rogue continued, "I'm at…"  she looked at Buffy, "Where am I?"

Buffy reluctantly gave her the address, which Rogue relayed to Logan.  "I'll be right there," he said.  Rogue put the device away.  Buffy handed her the water, which she drank greedily.

"Thanks," the girl said softly.

 It was quiet for a moment, so to break the silence, Spike spoke up.  "So…Rogue is a very unique name.  Where did you come up with it"

"Oh, come on," Buffy remarked with a smirk, "'Rogue' is weird, but 'Spike' is perfectly normal?"  Rogue smiled briefly.

"I have a reason for my name," Spike said, _Not that I'm too proud of it anymore, though_.  "I was just wondering if maybe she had one for hers."

"Oh, um…I don't really like to talk about it," Rogue mumbled.  Speaking up, she said, "But I wouldn't mind hearing where you came up with 'Spike'"

            "Yes, Spike.  Do tell," Buffy said, smiling sweetly.

            "Right, well…I used to kill by…shoving…railroad spikes through people's heads," he said getting quieter with each word.  Buffy thought she saw something akin to regret on his face as he said that.

"Oh, it's okay now," she reassured Rogue, seeing the mutant's horror-filled expression, "Spike's been neutered now.  He has a chip in his head that makes him not be able to hurt humans.  He's as harmless as a puppy dog."  She giggled at her last comment, stopping when she saw Spike looking at her.  "What are you looking at?"

            "Nothing.  It's just, I haven't seen you laugh since…" he paused, thinking of the right word to say, "since a long time."

            Rogue regarded the couple while trying to draw upon a fading memory of the reason for their behavior, although it was pretty obvious they had feelings for each other.  She gave up in frustration as Dawn walked into the room.

            "Giles says he's never heard anything like it, but he's gonna look it up in some of his books."  She turned to Rogue, "Don't worry; Giles is really smart.  He'll figure out what's wrong and we'll fix it."

            Rogue shook her head, "I know what's wrong.  It'll just take a moment for everything to go away."

            "What are you talking about?" Buffy asked sitting down on the couch with Rogue who backed away quickly.  "It's okay.  I'm not gonna hurt you."

            "I know.  I just…don't like when people get too close to me."

            "Why?" Dawn asked.

            "Because if they touch me, they get hurt," she said sadly.

            Buffy's eyes widened, "How?" she asked.

Before Rogue had a chance to answer, Logan threw open the front door and ran inside.  He saw Rogue with two girls, sisters probably, and some bottle-blond guy—Logan sniffed the air—make that dead guy.  He popped his claws, much to the shock of everyone, except Rogue.

"Logan, no!" she cried, "they're good."

"What about this one?" he asked, indicating Spike, "is he the one that hurt you?"

"No, fuzzball, I'm the one that killed the guy that did this to her," Spike said angrily.

"But you're one of them, bub.  I can smell it," Logan said inching towards the vampire.

"Logan, stop!" Rogue shouted.  "He saved me.  He's a good vampire, I  know.  And besides, he has a chip in his head to prevent him from hurting humans."

Logan walked over towards Rogue, retracting his claws, and told her gently, "You know that that doesn't necessarily apply to us, kid.  But you seem to trust them, so I will, too…for the moment."  He paused a moment and looked her over.  He pulled her hair off her neck to get a better look at the bite marks.  "That doesn't look too good, kid.  Do you need me to…?" he trailed off, knowing she'd get the gist: did she need to take any of his healing power.

Rogue shook her head, "It's not that bad, and my head's still a little crazy right now anyway.  I don't think I could handle you inside right now, along with the vampire."

"Is it really bad?" he asked.

"Yeah.  I can see all his victims and feel his hunger," she licked her lips, then shook her head violently, "but it's going away."

"I shouldn't have taken you," Logan muttered, "I promised to protect you and I failed, again."

"There's nothing you could have done," Rogue reassured him, "and you can't protect me forever.  I know that I'll end up touching people, no matter how hard I try to prevent it."

"Ummmm, sorry to interrupt," Buffy broke in, "but what are you talking about?  Not being human?  People in your head?  Claws?  Who are you people?"

 Rogue looked at Logan, who shrugged, before answering, "We're mutants."

"You're what?" Dawn exclaimed.

"Mutants."  Rogue paused, waiting for some shred of recognition to appear on their faces, but there was none.  "You guys have never heard of mutants before?  There's been that big controversy all over the news."

They shook their heads.  "Love, we live on a Hellmouth we don't really have time for news," Spike explained.

"But you have time for _Passions_?" Buffy snorted.

Rogue giggled.  Not knowing how to explain themselves to these people, Rogue turned to Logan.

Logan took a breath before explaining, "We're mutants.  Our DNA gives us powers."

"Like what?" Dawn asked.

"Telekinesis, telepathy, shapeshifting, teleporting, magnetism, the list goes on and on."

"What are your powers?" Dawn pressed.

"I heal fast and I have good senses,"

Buffy cut her off, "What about his metal claws?"

Logan hesitated, so Rogue answered, "His claws are natural, but they're covered by metal because he was kidnapped by some scientists who grafted this really hard metal called adamantium to his bones.  He doesn't know who did it.  In fact, he only has memories of what happened after the operation.  That's why we're here, to find out who did this to him."  Logan looked at Rogue surprised.  He never knew how much of himself he gave to her until now.

"Oh," said Buffy.

"What are your powers?" asked Dawn.

Rogue looked down before answering sadly, "When I touch people, I absorb their life force: their thoughts, memories, abilities, and powers, when I touch mutants.  I can't control it."

"Oh my God," Buffy said in awe.  

Suddenly realizing what he saw earlier, Spike said, "When the vampire bit you…" Rogue nodded slowly, "you absorbed him.  Wow."  He knew, now that he had a soul, how bad it feels to know the mind of an evil vampire.  Buffy looked at Spike and, again, it looked almost like he truly cared about this girl.  She shrugged it off and asked,  
            "You said you were looking for answers here.  What made you think to look in Sunnydale?"

Logan answered, "I found a note in some abandoned base that mentioned a Professor Walsch of The Initiative in Sunnydale."

"Oh my God, Buffy…" Dawn said.

"Figures the Initiative would be involved in human testing," Spike said angrily.

"You know about the Initiative?" asked Logan, growing suspicious.

"I should.  They put a chip in my head to make it so I couldn't eat people."

"I pity you," Buffy said sarcastically, "They were an army branch that fought demons, but instead of helping me, they made it worse."  On seeing Logan's confused expression, she continued, "I'm the Slayer.  One girl in all the world with the strength and skill to fight vampires.  Yada, yada, yada.  I have superstrength and I kill demons and vamps.  Anyway, the Initiative captured all kinds of demons to do tests on them, which seemed pretty good at first.  But then I found out they created Adam, a collage of demon parts that killed lots of people, including Professor Walsch, and generally made my life hell, especially when he helped them," she said pointedly looking at Spike and once again seeing that expression of regret on his face.  "But, I killed Adam with the help of my friends, and later we found out that the Initiative complex was filled with concrete."

"So there's nothing left?" asked Rogue.

Buffy shook her head, "I'm sorry.  You came all this way for nothing.  I wish we could help you."

"Can you take us there?" asked Logan.

"The Initiative?  It'd be useless.  There's no way in," Buffy said.

"Maybe I can find something out.  I have to try," Logan said adamantly.

"But…" Buffy sighed, "OK.  We can go.  Dawn stay-"

"No!" exclaimed Dawn, "I'm going, too."

"Dawn, please," Buffy said exasperated. 

"It might be dangerous here, all alone, with no one to protect me," she smiled devilishly, "wouldn't I be safe with the Slayer to protect me?"

Buffy rolled her eyes, "Fine, Dawn, you can come."

"Yes!" Dawn cried, "I love you, Buffy!"

"Whatever.  Everyone wait a sec," Buffy said as she ran upstairs.  She came down carrying a crossbow and three stakes.  She handed the crossbow to Dawn and the stakes to Rogue and Logan.  "Aim for the heart," she told them.  Rogue nodded, but Logan declined, 

"I don't need a stake," he said popping his claws.

"Those won't kill them.  Well, unless you decapitate them."

"Decapitation it is, then," Logan grinned.  

Around 1 am, they began sneaking around the college.   Buffy led them to what appeared to be an abandoned frat house on campus. 

"This is the only way I know into the complex.  Wait here for a second."  She walked alone into the house.  Apparently, no one had touched the place since the Initiative was destroyed.  Most of the furniture was gone, and some windows were shattered, but other than that, the house remained intact.  Still, it felt creepy to walk around this place where she had so many memories.  When the entrance to the complex came into view, she was surprised to see that it was no longer filled with concrete.  But she was even more shocked to hear an all too familiar voice say,

"Hello, dollface, miss me?"


	3. Chapter 3

Outside, Spike, Dawn, Rogue, and Logan were waiting anxiously for Buffy to return.

"Do you think everything is OK?" Spike asked.

"God, Spike, what do you care?" Dawn demanded.  "Did you care about her when you tried to rape her?" 

"I thought you couldn't hurt anyone, bub," Logan said menacingly.

"I can't.  Buffy's just different though.  It was the spell.  It changed her a little," Spike said in answer to Logan.  Turning to Dawn he said, "Look, Niblet, I didn't want to hurt her, but I was just…"

"Just what, Spike? Fancying a shag?" Dawn said imitating his accent.

"No, but…" before he had a chance to answer, three vampires attacked.  One jumped at Dawn, but Spike threw him off of her and took a swing at it.  His punch connected, and the vamp went flying.  The vamp got up quickly and kicked Spike in the stomach and followed through with a punch to the face.  Spike stumbled back and backhanded the vamp across the face.  While the vamp was stunned, Spike staked it.

While Spike was fighting, the other vampires attacked Rogue and Logan.  Logan popped his claws and stabbed one of the vamps in the chest.  The other vamp jumped on Rogue and knocked her to the ground, making her lose her grip on her stake.  She kicked him with all her might, but only managed to get him to roll off her.  That was all she needed to quickly back away towards Logan, who had pulled his claws out of the vamp and tried to cut off its head, but was pushed back as the vamp hit him in the solar plexus.  Logan staggered back and shook it off, already ready to get back to the fight.  Rogue wasn't fairing as well.  Her vamp stalked towards and grabbed her roughly, pulling her neck towards his face.

"You've been tasted already," the vamp sneered as he bent towards her.  Just as he was about to take a bite, he felt a crossbow bolt land in his heart.  His dust covered Rogue who began to get up slowly.

"Thanks," she said..

"No problem," Dawn smiled.

As Dawn helped her to her feet, Logan leapt at the vamp, claws first, and knocked it to the ground.  While he had it pinned, he cut off its head.  As the vamp turned to dust, Logan fell to the ground, no longer sitting on anything.  He got up and headed towards Rogue.

"Are you alright, kid?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Rogue answered,

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," quickly changing the subject, she said, "Hasn't Buffy been in there a long time?"

Buffy whirled around to face Glory in shock, "No, no, it can't be."

"Well, guess what, sweetness?  It is.  Do you know how frustrated I was to find out that I had missed my chance when I was so close to going home?  Stupid Ben had to take over when I was minutes away from going home.  All I wanted was my key so I could go home, but you wouldn't let me go.  Why did you have to make everything so difficult?  You're gonna pay for what you did."  

Buffy closed her eyes and whispered to herself, "It can't be, it can't be, it can't be!"  After realizing that she no longer heard Glory anymore, she opened her eyes to be face to face with Adam.  _What the hell is going on here?_ she thought.  Whatever it was it wasn't good, and she braced herself for a tough fight.

"Foolish human.  You think that by just wishing it so, that I will go away.  I am stronger than you.  You cannot beat me."

"I already did!" she shouted.

"You merely caused a setback.  A flaw in my structure.  It has been rectified.  Now you will die."

"Who are you?" Buffy demanded, backing away.  She quickly looked behind her as she hit the wall, and when she looked back, she saw yet another familiar face.

"Don't you recognize me, lover?"

"What do you want?" Buffy said, her voice hiding her fears.

"Just one more taste," Angelus said, "but if you won't satisfy me, maybe I should look towards your sister.  Fresher blood always tastes better.  I wonder how I could torture her.  It would have to be slow.  I love hearing young girls scream.  Once I'm done with her, maybe I'll turn her.  It would be great to see the Slayer killed by her own sister," he smiled.  "Or maybe it should be the other way around," he said evilly.

"You go near my sister and I'll make sure you die nice and slow, _lover_" Buffy said evenly.

Are you sure that's what you want?" Angelus said, walking closer to Buffy.  "It must have felt good to sleep with a vampire.  Otherwise, why would you have done it again?  And tell me, didn't it make you feel at least a little flattered to know that one toss in the sack with my soulful counterpart could result in me?" 

"No, no," Buffy muttered to herself.

Angelus was only about a yard away from her, "Wouldn't you like to do it again?" he said, reaching her side and giving her a passionate kiss.  When she pushed him away, in his place stood the Master.

"Ahhh, the Slayer.  The Chosen One, frightened like a little girl."

"I killed you once, and I'll do it again!" Buffy exclaimed.

"Yes, but will you have the chance to?" he asked, wrapping his hands around her neck.  Buffy tried to get out of his grip, but he held her steadily.  "Looks, like I'll get to kill you once again, Slayer."

Suddenly, the vampire was pulled back, and Buffy heard a gruff voice say, "I don't think so, bub," before the Master was hurled across the room.  "You may have many faces, Mystique, but you still have the same scent."

Buffy stared in shock as the Master morphed into a blue, scaly woman with red hair and yellow eyes who leapt at Logan.  He caught her attack, but fell to the floor anyway.  Buffy heard a _snikt _sound and saw that Logan now sported his claws.  He swiped at Mystique, but she dodged the attack and landed a blow to his head before disappearing into the Initiative complex.  Buffy ran to follow the mutant, but was stopped by Logan who said, 

"Wait a minute, blondie.  You don't know who you're dealing with."

"Then enlighten me.  Who am I dealing with?" Buffy demanded.

"That was Mystique, a shapeshifting mutant.  She works with Magneto," Logan explained.

"Who's Magneto?" Dawn asked.

"A very strong mutant who controls magnetic fields.  He tried to use Rogue, and almost killed her, to turning a bunch of world leaders into mutants, but we stopped him.   The one person who he actually managed to mutate died."

"Why would he do that?"  
            "Because he's crazy," Logan replied.

"That's not it," Rogue murmured, "he didn't want there to be a Holocaust for mutants,  so he wanted to make the world leaders like us.  Ya know, so they wouldn't want to kill mutants."

"Why are you defending him, love?  Don't you hate him for what he did to you?" Spike asked.

"She can't," Logan answered for her, "for his plan to work, he had to let Rogue absorb a part of him.  She knows what was going on in his head.  She still has nightmares about the Holocaust."

There was a moment of silence as the Scoobies had a loss of words, so Rogue shifted the focus off her by asking, "But isn't he still in jail?"

"I thought so, but who knows what could have happened?" Logan replied.  To the others he noted, "If he is out of jail, I'll be out of the fight."

"Why?" Buffy wondered aloud.

Logan popped his claws in reply, "The metal runs throughout my entire body.  He can hold me back with no effort at all."

"Then it will be up to me and Spike to fight Mystique and Magneto.  Seems fair," Buffy mused.

"It ain't, blondie.  If it is him, he'll also probably have Toad and Sabertooth, and although Magneto's not really the fighting type.  The other three are," Logan said.

"No biggie.  I've fought a goddess, three Master vampires, including chip-boy here, a rogue Slayer, a giant snake, and a robot-demon thingie.  I don't think I'll have too much trouble with power-hungry mutants.  Dawn, I want you and Rogue to stay out of the way.  Got it?"  The two teens nodded.  "Good.  Let's go."

The fivesome descended into the complex via the same ropes that Buffy and her friends had used more than two years ago.  But instead of finding the place as the left it, in complete disarray with blood and bodies everywhere, the place was almost completely bare, save for a few tables bolted to the floor.

"Where do you think they are?" Buffy asked.  

Suddenly Wolverine slammed against the wall.  "Pretty damn close," he observed.  A few moments later, Magneto floated into the room, followed by his entourage, Mystique, Toad, Sabertooth, and an unidentified blonde woman.  "What do you want this time, Magneto?" Logan demanded.

Magneto chuckled, "Wolverine, you always try to act intimidating while being paralyzed.  It's very charming."  

Before anyone could react, Buffy ran up to Magneto, wrapped a hand around his neck, and held him in the air.  "How charming is this?  Now, I believe he asked you a question, and you're gonna answer it."

In a strained voice, Magneto replied, "Ah, yes, the Slayer.  I've learned so much about you, as I'm sure you well know.  But I must say, I knew you would be strong, but I didn't expect this."  

Buffy tightened her grip, "I'm sorry.  I don't think you heard me correctly.  Answer the question.  What do you want?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that I simply wanted to live in peace?" he asked.

"No," Buffy answered.  "If so, why would you go through all this trouble to get us here?  That doesn't sound like peaceful to me."

"I'm being entirely honest.  I want to go somewhere where I can live without being hated by Homo sapiens."

"Then what do you need us for?" Spike asked.

Magneto looked at Dawn, "Transport, of course."  He struggled to breathe as Buffy tightened her grip even more.

"You're not getting your hands on Dawn," she said firmly.

"It wasn't my intent," Magneto disputed.  He nodded at Sabertooth who lumbered over towards Buffy.  As he got near her, she used her free hand to punch him in the face.  Instead of falling back, as she expected, he merely shook off his pain and grabbed her, and threw her across the room.  

"That is gonna cost ya," Buffy muttered as she picked herself up off the floor.  This signaled the beginning of the fight.  Spike vamped out and tried to fight off Toad and Mystique, surprised to see that the chip didn't affect them (apparently it was only geared towards Homo Sapiens)  

Meanwhile, Buffy ran towards Sabertooth and heard his nose crack as she punched it.  Sabertooth fell back this time, but recovered quickly, although not quickly enough to block a kick to his chest.  He was knocked to the ground.  When Buffy tried to deliver a sharp kick to his face, he grabbed her leg and flipped her away from him.  She twisted in midair and landed on her hands and feet, getting up in time to have Sabertooth rake his sharp adamantium-laced nails across her face.

While trying to fight both Mystique and Toad, Spike glanced at Buffy.  He saw her hurt and ran after Sabertooth.  He took one of the stakes he always had in his duster and rammed it into Sabertooth's stomach.  The mutant roared in pain and slumped to the floor.  Then, Buffy and Spike, thinking he was defeated, turned their attention back to Mystique and Toad.  But instead of Mystique, Dawn stood in her place locked in Toad's grip. 

"Buffy, help!" she screamed.  Buffy ran towards Toad to pull Dawn out of his grip, but stopped in her tracks when she heard another Dawn say,

"No, Buffy, that's not me!"  Toad took this opportunity to take a flying leap towards Buffy.  "Look out!"  Dawn yelled.  Just before Toad would have made contact, Spike grabbed the mutant from midair and punched him several times before tossing the unconscious mutant against the wall.  

Next, they focused on Mystique, completely oblivious to the recovering Sabertooth still on the floor.  They double-teamed her, one pushing her back into the other's waiting attacks.  Although Mystique was quite skilled in the art of fighting, she had no chance against a vampire and a Slayer, and she eventually went down just as Sabertooth was getting up.  

Watching all this on the side, while still keeping some attention on Wolverine and the two teens, Magneto turned towards the woman next to him and simply said, "Carol," to signal to her to join the fight.  Carol leapt into the air and literally flew at Buffy.  She connected with the Slayer's torso, sending her flying back against a wall..  Spike tried to go after her, but was held back by Sabertooth.

"Missing something?" he growled, holding up the stake that was used against him.  "Too bad for you," he tried staking the vampire.  Spike hastily dodged the attack, but was too slow to be completely safe.  He screamed in pain as the piece of wood dug into right shoulder.  Sabertooth bent down to break the vampire's neck, but Spike used this chance to knock the legs out from underneath him.  Spike painfully pulled the piece of wood out of his shoulder and, once again, jammed it into his opponent.  Sabertooth collapsed to the ground again.

"And stay down this time," Spike said, kicking him in the head. 

Meanwhile, while Carol was pummeling Buffy with more strength than the Slayer possessed, Rogue and Dawn watched the battle in silence as Logan tried to move.  As Rogue watched Spike hold his own while Buffy was being killed, she knew there was only one thing to do.  She snuck up on the two women, who were so engrossed in their fight they didn't notice.  Logan yelled, "No!" as Rogue pulled off her gloves and jumped onto Carol, cupping her face in her hands.  

Rogue flinched as she felt the memories and powers absorbing into her body.  _Carol loving Big Bird as a little girl…playing dolls with her childhood friend…her first day of school… her first kiss with Sean Michaels…her first day of high school…cheerleading at the football games…passing Chemistry… _Rogue screamed as more and more memories came in.  She felt Carol's life fading away.  She tried to let go but couldn't,  _her shock at realizing her powers of flight, strength, and invulnerability…going to prom with a football player…her excitement at being accepted to NYU…graduation day…moving into her dorm room…joining ΔΘΣ…her pride and sadness for her brother, who died in the Gulf War…graduating from college…working for NOW Magazine…being approached by Magneto…following him to Sunnydale…waiting in this complex for their targets to show… _The memories stopped violently as Buffy pulled Rogue off Carol.  Rogue turned around and punched Buffy, sending her flying.  

"Rogue!" Logan yelled.  Rogue turned towards him, confusion etched on her face. 

"Carol?" Magneto asked.  Rogue/Carol turned towards him.  "Grab the girl.  Let's go."  Rogue obeyed him, walking up to Dawn and hoisting her over her shoulders.  

"Dawn!" Buffy gasped, running towards her sister.  She reached for Dawn, grabbing her hands and pulling her away from Rogue.  "What do you think you're doing, Rogue?"

_Who's Rogue?_ Carol inside Rogue's body felt.  _What's happened to me?_  She looked around.  Trying to reduce the confusion, she focused on her mission: get the girl.  Shestalked towards her prey.  As she neared the Summers sisters, Dawn sobbed,

"Rogue, please.  Don't do this!"

Rogue/Carol stopped in her tracks.  She looked at the two girls in front of her.  _Buffy and Dawn.  They helped me.  No, they're my prey.  _Tears ran down her cheeks as she tried to sort through her mind.

"Carol, grab the girl, now," Magneto ordered.  Pushing away all thoughts, Rogue/Carol simply did as she was told.  She came towards Dawn, lifted her onto her shoulders, and followed Magneto out the door. 

Once they left, Logan fell to the ground, finally free of his invisible bonds.  He walked over towards Carol Danvers' body.

"What the hell was that?" Buffy demanded.

"That," Logan sighed, "was a demonstration of Rogue's power."  He felt for Carol's pulse.  It was weak.  "She's alive, barely.  I don't think Rogue's ever taken that much before.  She must be so confused."

"Confused?  She seemed to know what she was doing when she took Dawn away,"  Buffy pointed out.

"No, you don't understand.  When Rogue touches a person, she doesn't just absorb their life force, she…becomes it, if she takes enough.  She almost killed Carol, so right now she thinks she _is_ Carol." 

"What do you mean?"

"That time Magneto almost killed Rogue, I made her hold onto me for a while.  When I got out of my coma later, I found out she had taken on some of my personality traits.  She was rude to the people I didn't like, and flirted with the people I did like.  It was pretty tough for her.  She'll be confused for days.  Hopefully she'll be herself enough to stop whatever Magneto wants her for."

"And if she's not?" Buffy questioned.

"Then we have to stop her," Logan said sadly.

"Look, Logan, I'm sorry this happened, but Dawn is too important to be in the hands of a guy like Magneto," Buffy said.

"What's so special about her?" Logan asked.

"She's the Key," Buffy said as if that explained everything

"The what?" 

"The Key.  She was originally a ball of energy until some monks made her into my sister about two years ago so I would protect her from a hell-goddess.  I don't even know when they made her because they altered everyone's memories to include her in it.  If she falls into the wrong hands, she can be used to unlock the barriers between dimensions so they spill over into each other, thus creating hell on earth.  I died once to prevent that from happening, and I won't let it happen again," Buffy explained.

"Wait a minute.  You died?" Logan said incredulously.

Buffy gave a small smile, "Long story short, I died to close the portal.  My friends brought me back.  So you see?  We can't let him use her.  We have to go stop them."  Buffy walked out the same door Magneto did, with Spike and Logan following.

"Are you ready, Carol?  There's been a slight change in plans.  I'm depending on you to do this right," Magneto explained.

Rogue/Carol took a deep breath.  "Rogue, I mean me, is—am—supposed to absorb the Key now, because right now, I'm in the mutant's body.  Right?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yes.  Any questions?"  He hoped not.  He didn't really want to explain his plan to her.  It had taken him quite a while to learn how to use the Key accurately.  He found out that if she is used indirectly, her power is weakened and can be controlled.  He figured that he could use Rogue to transport him to the exact dimension he needed without causing the apocalypse in the process.

"Will I ever get my body back?" she asked timidly.

Magneto sighed.  He knew enough about Rogue's power to know that if she holds onto someone for too long, that person may die or be in a coma for the rest of his life.  "I don't know."

"So what will happen then?  I'll just be stuck with Rogue, sharing a body with her?  I can already feel her fighting for control as we speak," Rogue/Carol cried.

"I'm sorry," he paused a beat, "but if we are to continue, you have to do it now before she completely takes over."  

Rogue/Carol nodded.  She understood the importance of this mission.  She used her ungloved hand and slowly brought it towards Dawn.

"Don't do this, Rogue.  I know you're in there somewhere.  Fight it," Dawn sobbed.

Rogue/Carol froze.  "Dawn?" she asked.  "What's going on?"  She started pulling back, but Magneto had other plans.  He pushed her into Dawn, making her bare skin came into contact with the Key.  

"Buffy!" Dawn screamed before she was pulled into Rogue's psyche.

_Not again_ Rogue thought just before her hands made contact with Dawn's flesh.  This time was different though.  Normally when she touched someone, she saw flashes of their lives, their thoughts, etc.  But this time, all she saw was a bright green glow, but she got impressions of this girl's life.  It was as if the knowledge came into her head without an image to accompany it.  _Dawn's mother… Glory…Ben…the Doc…Buffy diving off the platform into the portal…Buffy coming back to life…the musical…Xander and Anya's wedding…Tara's death…black, veiny, Willow_  Rogue felt the deluge stop as she was pulled off of Dawn.  Her head was busy, but Dawn's presence wasn't as strong as Carol's, as Rogue had only held on for a few seconds.  However, it was enough to make her start babbling.

"Shallow cuts, shallow cuts…not real…Buffy…" she trailed off and then collapsed to the floor in tears.  "There's too much, too much, too much," she muttered.  

Magneto looked at Rogue with pity.  He really did feel bad for the poor girl.  He knew it was difficult absorbing one person, but three in one night must be torture.  However, it was necessary for his plans; he needed the Key's power diluted to send both him and the two young girls to a specific dimension and back again with their cargo.  

Rogue offered little resistance as he tied her up and pulled out a knife.

Meanwhile…

Buffy, Spike, and Wolverine froze as they heard Buffy's name shouted.  

"Dawn!" Buffy whispered. 

"It came from that way," Logan said, pointing to the right, "I can smell'em.  Let's go!"  He started off without the others, who followed him a few steps behind.  At an intersection, he paused, sniffed the air, and made a left turn, hurrying farther down the corridor.  

After leading Buffy and Spike through the complex, he stopped in front of one door.  "Ready?" he asked them.  At their nods of assent, he barged into the room, shocked by the sight before him

Rogue was tied up, thin cuts marring her fragile body, her blood leaking down to form a silvery portal.  Dawn was unconscious, cradled in Magneto's arms.  

"Put her down," Buffy demanded as Logan tried to make his way to Rogue's side, the portal deterring his path.  

Magneto laughed, "Looks like you're too late once again, Wolverine.  Maybe next time."  As soon as the portal got large enough, he pushed Rogue inside and jumped inside himself, holding Dawn as he went.  

There was a moment of silence as the portal closed.  Buffy's choked sob echoed in the suddenly cold and empty complex as she sank to the floor.

Spike knelt down next to Buffy, trying to comfort her.  She buried her head in his duster, crying and murmuring, "I failed her.  I failed her, AGAIN."

"Buffy, we'll find her.  We'll get her back.  It will all be okay," Spike said soothingly.

Buffy pulled away and beat her fists against Spike in frustration, "How will it be okay?  She's gone, and we have no idea, NO IDEA, where to even begin to look for her!"  She collapsed back into him, all strength suddenly leaving her body.

Logan watched the desperate scene before him.  He felt the same way about Rogue as Buffy did about her sister, but he knew how to channel his anger and frustration into something productive.  "Look, Blondie, it's not helping anything for you to have a fit.  I understand how you feel about your sister.  Hell, I feel the same way about Rogue, but sitting here moping won't help anything.  We have to look for them."

Buffy looked up at him, "How?" she said, half demanding and half desperate.

"I'm not sure," Logan admitted.  "Could we somehow search in other dimensions?"

"There's far too many to try.  It'd be like searching for a needle in a bloody haystack," Spike replied.  "Unless. . . Is Red back from England yet?"

            Buffy shook her head, "Why?"

            "Well, maybe she could do a spell or something to search for the Bit's essence in other dimensions.  The Key would be pretty strong, right?  It doesn't matter, though, if no one can do the spell."

            Buffy thought for a moment, "Maybe Anya could.  I mean, I don't know if she would, with the whole vengeance thing going for her now, but. . .maybe."

            "You guys do spells?" Logan asked, somewhat derisively.

            "Yeah.  That a problem?" Buffy answered.

            "No.  It's just kinda strange.  I never really believed in magic," Logan commented.

"Yeah, well, a Hellmouth changes a lot of perspectives," Buffy said, "For instance I used to think that you only died once.  I also used to believe my sister was really my sister."

            Logan directed the focus away from their lost friends, "So, do your spells work?" he asked.

            "Yeah, mostly," Buffy replied.

            "Can we trust this Anya?" Logan asked.

            "I think so, but . . . " she trailed off.

            "What?"

            "We're not really her favorite people right now," Spike explained.

            "What happened?" Logan asked.

            "It's a long story.  I don't wanna bore you.  Why don't we just go see if Anya will help," Buffy suggested.  She felt a little better now that she had a plan she could focus on.                              

            Buffy knocked on the door to Anya's apartment.  She easily noticed the disappointment on Anya's face when she saw Buffy and Spike.  

            "Hello, Buffy and Spike and strange, burly man I don't know.  How may I help you fast enough so that you will leave quickly?" she greeted with an obviously false smile on her face. 

            "Anya, we need your help," Buffy stated.

            "Oh, I see.  You're just going to ignore me until you need my help.  Why should I help you?" she asked.

            "It's about Dawn.  She needs our help," Buffy explained.

            "That doesn't really make me want to help you.  She stole money from me, remember?" Anya exclaimed.

            "Anya, please," Buffy leveled with her, "Dawn was kidnapped by this guy, and now her and another girl are in another dimension.  We need to find them, and we thought maybe you could do a spell to help us find them."

            Anya sighed.  She was still a little angry at how they had all practically abandoned her after everything with Willow was fixed, but she couldn't just let one of her friends die.  "Alright.  I'll do it."  She let them into her apartment and set to work finding the materials needed for the spell.

            Anya set about lighting candles and gathering a few herbs while Buffy, Spike, and Logan watched from the side.

            "Who are you?" Anya asked Logan.

            "Logan," he answered.

            "Who was taken from you?" she pressed.

            "A friend," he answered tersely.  

            Anya picked up on the hint to stop talking to him and turned to Spike.  "Why are you here, Spike?  I understand why Buffy and Logan are here, but I don't understand why you are."

            "Because I care about the Little Bit," he replied.

            "Maybe, but—" she froze and stared at him for a moment.

"What?" he asked, perplexed.

            "Oh my God!" she exclaimed, seeming to stare straight through him.

            Realization dawned on him, "Don't you have to get on with the spell?" he reminded her.

            "How did. . . How did it happen?" she asked him.

            "How did what happen?" Buffy asked, voicing both her and Logan's sentiments.

            "Nothing," Spike spat out, "Get back to the spell, Demon-girl,"

            Anya rolled her eyes.  "Fine," she said.  She put the finishing touches on the spell and sat down on the floor.  She poured an herb in a circle around her and placed an exceptionally large candle in front of her.  Finally, she closed her eyes and began chanting,

            "Flame of Vision

            Make me See

            The location of

            The sacred Key"

            Anya then opened her eyes and lifted the candle up to her face.  The flame grew until she could clearly see a picture in it.  She saw Dawn, a girl with a white stripe in her hair, an old guy, and a woman who looked somewhat familiar.  After Anya memorized the image before her, the flame extinguished.

            Buffy looked at her expectantly, "Well, what did you see?"

            "I saw Dawn, another girl with a white stripe—" 

            "Rogue," Logan interrupted.

            "Right.  An old guy—"

            "Magneto," Logan interrupted again.

            "Will you let me finish?" Anya asked, testily.

            "Sorry," Logan muttered.

            "Thank you.  Anyways.  Then there was—"

            "Where were they, Anya?  Was it really bad?" Buffy interjected.

            Anya sighed.  "No.  It is actually a higher dimension for higher beings.  It's quite peaceful there."

            "Good," Buffy said, obviously relieved, "Is there anyway in and out of the dimension?  What would this Magneto guy want from there?" 

            "Buffy, there's still—" Anya tried to say.

            "Do you think he was telling the truth when said he wanted to live in peace?" Spike asked.

            Logan shook his head, "Not his style.  He wouldn't run away to find peace.  He'd force it on people."

            "Hey!" Anya shouted, "There's still one more thing you might want to know," she continued more calmly.

            "What?" Buffy asked.

            "Xander's ex-girlfriend—Cordelia, I think it was?"  Buffy nodded, "She was there, too," Anya finished.


	4. Chapter 4

Magneto emerged from the portal in a foreign dimension.  He still wasn't sure if this was the right dimension, but judging from the peaceful look and feel of the place, it seemed to be.  He saw Rogue a few feet away, completely lost in thought, trying to sort herself out.  Once again he told himself how much he didn't envy the poor girl.  In his arms, Dawn was beginning to stir.

            When Dawn awoke from unconsciousness, the first thing she realized was that she was in Magneto's arms.  Frightened and repulsed, she began thrashing.  Her movements caused him to drop her.  When she landed, she expected her fall to be broken by a hard, cold, cement floor.  Instead, it felt as if she fell onto a warm mattress that immediately conformed to her body, cushioning her fall.  That was when she realized that the whole place felt like that: soft and warm.  _Maybe that's what Buffy felt_ she thought to herself of Buffy's absence.  

            She saw Rogue a few feet away and began walking towards her.  The last thing she remembered was Rogue coming towards her, then recoiling away as if the thought of touching Dawn terrified her.  She wanted answers for everything that happened, and she thought Rogue might be able to help, since she definitely didn't want to talk to Magneto.

            "Rogue?" Dawn asked tentatively.  Rogue didn't move.  "Rogue!" Dawn said louder, lightly shaking her by the shoulders.  

            This time Rogue flinched away and began repeating the phrase, "shallow cuts" to herself over and over.  

            Dawn shuddered inwardly at the impact those words had on her.  Both the memory of that day and the realization that Rogue must have touched her.  "Rogue?" she asked again.  "Rogue, it's okay," she soothed.

            Suddenly Rogue seemed to become a completely different person; she lost her Southern accent and changed her posture.  She began rambling, "I didn't even want to come on this damn mission.  I only wanted to come because I needed money for my son.  I wish I had never met that bastard Magneto."  Rogue turned towards Dawn, "Do you know what he told me would happen?"  

            Dawn just looked at the woman before her in shock.

            "He told me that all I would need to do is beat some bitch to the ground while he stole her sister.  Look, I'm not the kind of person to go kidnapping people, but I needed the money, and he said it would be for a good cause.  The good of humanity, or some other lofty goal," she snorted derisively, "Jerk.  This sure as hell wasn't part of the package: being trapped in the body of a fucking mutant; going to this crazy dimension;" tears began to form in her eyes, "Will I ever see my son again?"

            Dawn looked around nervously, "Rogue?  Rogue, I need you to focus on my voice.  You need to be Rogue for us to get through this.  Rogue, fight this.  Gain control."

            Rogue/Carol exclaimed, "You bitch!  Don't do this to me!  Just let me live!"  She fell silent for a moment.

            "Rogue?" Dawn asked cautiously.

            Rogue looked up at her, "Thanks," she said quietly in her Southern drawl.  "I don't know how long I'll keep control.  I've never absorbed this much before.  It's like her entire psyche is inside my head."  She looked around her, "Where are we?"

            "I hoped you would know.  The last thing I remember is you coming towards me, then pulling back very quickly.  I woke up here, and you kept saying 'shallow cuts'."

            Rogue closed her eyes for a moment, and Dawn feared that when she opened them, she would be a different person.  But instead Rogue said, "I remember absorbing Carol.  Then it's like a blank in my memory.  Then I was reaching out towards you without gloves.  I pulled back, because, well, you know.  But then Magneto pushed me into you.  I absorbed you.  Then, he cut me.  He apologized for it, but he said he needed the Key's power diluted.  My blood, it formed this…this portal, and we went through it.  Then we were here.  I don't know where here is, though.  Where is Magneto?"

            "I don't know, and I don't want to know.  Who knows what he'll do to us this time.  We have to find a way out of here."  Dawn started walking away, and Rogue ran up to catch her.

            "Where are you going?" she asked.

            "Duh, to find a way out," she answered.  

            As they walked around the area, Dawn said, "I'm sure it will be OK.  Even if this Magneto guy leaves us here, Buffy will get us out.  She has to.  It's her job, and OH.  MY.  GOD.  Cordelia?!"  She exclaimed.  Dawn ran towards her.

            Rogue saw a pretty woman with short brown hair with too much blonde highlights in it turn towards them.  "Dawnie?" she asked, giving the teen a hug, "What are you doing here?" 

            "It's a long story.  What about you?" Dawn answered as Rogue sidled up behind her.

            "Same.  Isn't it always?  Who's your friend?"

            "Rogue,"

            "Hi, I'm Cordelia," Cordelia introduced herself.  "Seriously, Dawn, how'd you get here?"

            "Well, see, Rogue here is a mutant-" Dawn began.

            "Like those ones in New York at Ellis Island?" Cordelia broke in.

            "Actually," Rogue commented, "That was me at Ellis Island,"

            "Okaaaaaay," Cordy said, confused.

            Dawn continued with the story, everything of Rogue, Logan, Magneto, Mystique, Carol, following them into the complex.  When she was finished, Cordy was surprised. 

            "Man, I'd forgotten how weird things can be in Sunnydale.  I mean, I never even heard of a Key before.  If it weren't for all the "fun" that goes on in LA, I would be missing old Sunnyhell," she commented.

            "So what about you?" Rogue asked.

            "What about me?" Cordy said, confused.

            "How'd you get here.  You know all about us, but we—well, I—know nothing about you," Rogue explained.

            "Oh, well it's a really long story.  See I went to highschool with Buffy, so that's how I got into the whole vamp thing.  But after graduation, I moved to LA and worked with Angel helping the helpless…"  Cordelia went on to explain how she got her visions, and how she became half-demon, and how she got to this dimension.  She left out her almost-relationship with Angel, though.

"Well, well, it's not as normal in LA as you make it out to be," Dawn observed.

            "No, I guess not," Cordelia mused.

            "So do you have any idea of how we're gonna get out of here?" Rogue asked.

            Cordelia sighed, "No.  I've tried everything.  Angel is in a bit of a bind right now, and I need to help him.  I've tried contacting the Powers that Be, but, of course, they won't listen to me.  I then tried calling for Skip, but, no, no, no, he can't possibly show up to take me home.  Annoying spirit guide," she muttered.  She paused a moment before questioning, "Why did Magneto take you here anyway?"

            Dawn looked at Rogue, who shrugged.  "His big goal is mutant supremacy, so anything that is here that could help him reach that goal is probably what he's after."

            Suddenly Magneto appeared, walking towards them.  "Ahhhhhh, there you two are.  I've been looking for you," he glanced at Cordelia, "And you've found my objective for me.  How splendid."

            Rogue looked from Magneto to Cordelia and back again, "What  do you want her for?"

            "To do what you could not," he answered stonily.

            Rogue blanched while Cordelia became more confused.  "What are you talking about?  What am I supposed to do and why should I do it for you?" in her best Queen C manner.

            Magneto chuckled softly, "All in good time, my dear.  But now, it is time to go back to our dimension."

            "And how are we supposed to do that?" Cordy demanded.

            "The same way we got in," he turned to Rogue expectantly, "If you want to go back to earth, I'd advise you to touch the girl.  You know what you have to do."  Rogue shook her head almost imperceptibly.  "Suit yourself.  We can just stay here forever," Magneto commented snidely.

            "It's okay, Rogue.  I'm not too happy about it, but I want to go home," Dawn said reassuringly.

            "No!" Cordelia defended Rogue, "Dawn, you told me what Rogue had to do to get you guys here.  She shouldn't have to go through that again.  We can find another way out."

            "If you could, why haven't you?" Magneto pointed out.

            Cordelia ignored him and yelled, "Skip!  Get your scaly ass over here!"   After numerous tries to get his attention, he finally showed up.  "Where have you been you worthless spirit guide?" Cordy demanded.

            "You're not my only client, you know.  I am a busy guy.  What do you want, anyway?"

            "I want to get out of here!  My friends need my help, and I have to go.  I belong with them," she explained.

            "You belong here," he corrected her, "You made your choice."

            "Well, I change my mind.  I'm going back," she said firmly.

            Skip relented, "You realize that your leaving will have serious consequences, right?"

            "Like what?"

            "I can't tell you what to do in every situation.  You have to trust yourself here.  But if you decide to go, I can't take your friends with you.  They have to find their own way back," Skip said.  Upon hearing this, Rogue resigned herself to her fate and began removing one glove.

            Cordelia contemplated this for a fraction of a second before declaring, "I'm going."

            "Fine," Skip said, and a portal opened up and pulled Cordelia into it.  "Good luck," he said after she left.  With that, he disappeared without a word to the three people remaining.

             While Rogue wavered, Magneto reminded her, "If you don't do this, Rogue, we'll be stuck here forever."  

Rogue nodded, and motioned for Dawn to come over to her.  Dawn smiled softly and slowly approached Dawn, holding her own arm out for her.  Rogue slowly brought her hand towards Dawn.  She tried to steel herself against the images that poured into her head, but she couln't, and she nearly drowned in bright green energy until it finally became defined memories.  Before she could absorb too much, Rogue roughly pulled her hand away, and Dawn collapsed to the ground unconscious.  

Standing shakily before Magneto, she rasped, "Just get it over with before I have to do it again." 

Magneto repeated his previous actions, cutting Rogue's frail body to form the portal, grabbing Dawn, pushing Rogue through the portal, and jumping in himself, while carrying Dawn.  Throughout all of this, Rogue regarded him with hazy eyes, and was surprised to see a look of sadness cross Magneto's face each time he cut through her skin.

They appeared in the complex, exactly where they had left, except that Cordelia was standing next to them looking quite confused.  

She stared at them for a moment before asking, "Who are you people?" 


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, just because I got rid of _most _of my commentaries, doesn't mean I've gotten rid of all.  For those of y'all who don't understand all this stuff with Carol, it was in the comics.  (Although I never read the comics except if I see it at Barnes and Noble, I did watch that old show which was based on the comics.)  When Rogue was with the Brotherhood, she absorbed the life force of Ms. Marvel, aka Carol Danvers.  Carol was stuck in her head for a while, and according to some book I read which was kinda like fanfic based on the comics, both Rogue and Carol fight for control of Rogue's body, and they both alternate being the psyche in charge.  

            Magneto stared at Cordelia, not sure of what to make of this.  Was she trying to trick him or had she actually lost her memory.  He made up his mind that it was real, and smiled warmly.  "Cordelia, I'm so glad you are alright," he said.  

            Cordelia still eyed him suspiciously, "Who are you?" she repeated.

            "You've forgotten?  I'm Erik Lensherr, and you are Cordelia Chase."

            Cordelia looked around, "Where are we and why are we here?  This place looks icksum."

            Magneto glanced at Rogue before answering.  He was glad to see that she was too out of it to make much sense of what was going on.  He turned back to Cordelia, "We're in a complex in Sunnydale.  You used to live here, you know.  Anyway, as for what we're doing here, that takes some explanation."

            "Well, get to explaining then," 

            Magneto smiled to himself, _Excellent,_ he thought, _This makes things so much easier_.  "We live in a world of mutants and demons.  While most demons are evil, mutants are treated with the same disrespect and hatred.  Mutants are merely people who have extra gifts, like me."

            "What does this have to do with me?" Cordelia asked.

            "Ah.  You are an interesting case.  You are part human and part demon.  Although you are not evil, you possess gifts much like mutants do.  Well, in this world, mutants are terrorized and hated.  I want to change that, and I need your help to do it.  What you would be doing would be for the good of mutants everywhere, and ultimately for the good of humanity."

            Cordelia regarded him warily, "Why should I believe you?"

            "Why should I lie to you?" Magneto countered, "We were partners, once.  In fact, you helped me come up with this plan to help mutants."  He smiled at her to try to dispel some of her doubts.  

            After a few moments, Cordelia smiled back slowly, "So, I'm going to be helping people?  What am I supposed to do?"

            "I will explain it all later.  But it is time to for us to go.  We must take these two girls with us."

            Cordelia gazed upon the girls in shock, "What happened to them?"

            "Although our goal is noble, there are some who oppose us.  They fear that we won't succeed and that our plan may end up detrimental to mutants.  They attacked us earlier today, and these two were injured.  We must help them, but we must leave this place before our enemies return.  Will you help me?"

            "Of course, I will," Cordelia answered, "It's the right thing to do."

            With that, Magneto and Cordelia, with Dawn and Rogue in tow, left the complex and left Sunnydale altogether.   

            "Great," Logan commented, "we know that they're in some alternate dimension, now, but have any of you geniuses thought of how we're going to get to them?"

            "Look, we don't need this right now," Buffy yelled.  Softening her voice, she said, "Maybe we should call Angel."

            "What?  Why do we need to bring Peaches into this?" Spike snorted.  Logan raised his eyebrow at this, but decided not to say anything

            "Well, Cordy and him are really close now, and I bet he's worried," Buffy explained.  "If I suddenly went missing on you, wouldn't you want to know where I was?  I know I would," she said pointedly. 

            Spike sighed loudly and muttered, "Fine.  Call the poofter.  He'll come prancing in all high and mighty, thinking he's the savior of the world just because he's got a bloody soul.  Wanker."

            "What would you know of having a soul, Spike?" Buffy snapped.  

            "A lot, actually," Anya answered.

            "What?" Buffy said at the same time Spike said,

            "Shut up, Anya!"

            "What?" Anya asked innocently, "She asked a question and I answered it.  Or was this another one of those things where I'm not supposed to say anything?  I can never remember them all.  I don't understand what's wrong with being honest, but I've never seen a mortal be honest all the time.  Even Xander.  He tells me he loves me, and then leaves me at the altar.  I mean, he—"

            "Not now, Anya," Buffy interrupted wearily.   "What's going on, Spike?"

            "Nothing," he lied, looking anywhere but into her eyes.         

            Buffy stared at him steadily, "Please tell me, Spike.  After everything that's happened, you owe me this much.  What happened to you over the summer?"

            Spike took a deep breath and looked her straight in the eyes.  At that moment Buffy read the emotion in his eyes and knew, without even hearing him whisper, "I got my soul back."

            Logan rolled his eyes at the exchange, not understanding the significance of any of it, "What a crock of shit," he muttered.

            Buffy broke eye contact with Spike and turned abruptly towards Logan, "What did you say?"

            "I said that this is a crock of shit.  While it's great and all that Spike got his soul back, I've had mine for as long as I've lived.  Now can we get back to finding Rogue and Dawn?"

            "I'm gonna let that go, cos you don't know what you're talking about, but if you ever degrade Spike like that again, I'm gonna have to hurt you."

            Spike smiled softly, "Thanks, pet."

            Buffy smiled back, "No problem, but he's right about one thing.  We do need to focus on getting Dawn and Rogue back.  We'll talk about this later.  I'm gonna go call Angel," she said, turning to the phone.

            "Um, Buffy?" Spike asked hesitantly.

            "Yeah?"

            "Don't tell Peaches."

            Buffy nodded, "Sure," she said, and went to the phone.  

            After dialing the familiar number, she heard a soft Texan drawl say "Angel Investigations.  We help the helpless."

            "Hi, um, is Angel there?" Buffy asked.

            "Well," the voice sighed, "He just got here, but he's not in the best condition.  Can I help you with something?"

            "Um, what's your name?"

            "Fred," Fred said (teehee, that rhymes)

            Recognition dawned on Buffy.  "Oooh, he mentioned you the last time we talked."

            "He did?" Fred said, obviously flattered, "Wait, who is this?"

            "Fred, can you just tell Angel that Buffy called and that I know where Cordy is."

            "You know where she is?" she asked, amazed.  Buffy heard her shout, "Charles!  Angel!  Someone's found Cordelia!"  After a small commotion, Buffy heard another voice on the phone.

            "Hello?" 

            "Angel?  It's me."

            "Buffy.  Y-you know where Cordy is?" he asked desperately.  "Where is she?"

            "It's a really long story.  Fred said you were hurt.  Do you want me to just call you tomorrow?"

            "No!  Tell me now.  Is she hurt?  Oh, God, is she okay?"

            Buffy was slightly surprised at his reaction.  She knew they were close, but she never thought of how close they might be.  "She's fine, for now.  She's in a higher dimension, apparently…" Buffy went on to tell him the entire story of, well, the story y'all have all been reading, sans what happened on the higher plane and Spike's soulfulness.

            "How are we gonna get her out of there?" Angel asked.

            "We're not sure, yet.  We're gonna go back to the Initiative to see if there's anything there that can help us get them back.  We weren't in the most clear mindset while we were there.  From there, we're not sure.  We might try a summoning spell, but without Willow…I don't know."

            "Wait, what about Willow?"

            "Oh, she went all vengeancy and tried to destroy the world.  She's in England now, working on not using magic."

            "Oh.  Well, what about that other witch, Terry, was it?"

            "Tara," Buffy corrected.  She sighed, "She was killed, hence the vengeance Willow."

            "Oh," Angel said, clearly disappointed.

            "Look, Angel, we're doing the best we can.  I have to go.  I'll call you when we find something, okay?"

            "Yeah."

            "Bye, Angel."

            "Bye."

            She hung up the phone and turned towards the group.  "So what's the plan?  We go back to the complex, then what?"

            "I will use my demon powers to sense for any sign of them," Anya stated, smiling proudly.

            "Then what?" Buffy queried.

            Anya's smile faded.  "Then…we will find them,"

            Buffy sighed at her lack of answer and said, "OK, let's go, then."

            For the second time that night they found themselves at the Initiative complex, this time with Anya in tow.  The complex was even emptier than it was before; Mystique, Toad, and Sabertooth had all apparently left.  

             When they came to the room in which Rogue, Dawn, and Magneto disappeared, Buffy asked Anya to try sensing them.

            After a moment, Anya replied, "The dimensional portal was opened twice here.  My guess would be that they're back."

            Logan sniffed the air, "They were.  I can smell 'em.  Plus another person…a girl, but she smells kind of, well, different from other humans."

            "Do you think that's Cordy?" Buffy asked.

            "I would assume so," Spike replied.  "Makes sense.  He probably went looking for her.  The thing I'm worried about is the strong scent of Rogue's blood."  He sniffed the air.  "Enticing," he commented, before silently adding _In a soulless, evil way._  Buffy glared at him.  "Look, just because I don't _want_ to eat people anymore doesn't mean I don't want blood.  I am still a vampire, you know."

            "Whatever," she said sarcastically, "But he's right.  When we came in, he was bleeding Rogue like…like…" she couldn't finish it.

            "It's okay, luv.  We know what happened," Spike said softly.

            "Speak for yourself, bub.  What are you talking about?" Logan said, trying to sound somewhat nice because he sensed this was a sore subject.

            "There was a hell-goddess who needed Dawn's blood to open a portal to go to her dimension.  So she cut Dawn and opened the portal, and Buffy had to jump into it to save the world because Dawn was made from her blood," Anya said in her normal Anya-like way.  "Oh!  And after about three months, we brought Buffy back from the dead."

            Logan nodded slowly, "Alright."  After a moment of thinking, he snapped his head up.  "Of course!"

            "Of course, what?" Buffy asked.

            "When he used Rogue at Ellis island, he transferred his power to her so that she powered the machine.  He must have made Rogue touch Dawn so she temporarily became the Key."

            "But what does he want Cordelia for?" Buffy asked.

            "I have no idea.  But I have a feeling we should find out before it's too late."


	6. Chapter 6

Dawn awoke to find herself stuck in some sort of cell with Rogue.  _Well, I think it's Rogue_, she thought.  "Rogue?" she asked tentatively. 

            Rogue sighed, "Yeah, it's me.  For now," she added morbidly.

            "Do you know where we are?" Dawn asked.

            "My guess would be a cell," Rogue muttered snidely.  Upon seeing Dawn's surprised and slightly hurt expression, Rogue relented, "This place seems familiar—from Magneto's memories and all—but I have no clear idea of where we are."

            "Oh.  OK," Dawn said dejectedly.

            After a few minutes of silence, Rogue said, "I'm sorry."

            "For what?" Dawn questioned.

            "For all of this.  Getting you tied up with Magneto and…and…touching you.  Are you alright?  I didn't take too much, right?" Rogue asked  hopefully.

            Dawn smiled softly in her direction, "I'm fine.  I've been through worse."

            "I know," Rogue said quietly.

            "Right!  Of course you know, with the absorbing me and stuff.  What's that like anyway?" 

            "It's hard to descrie.  It's…intimate.  Imagine knowing everything about a person, all in a second.  It's both thrilling and frightening at the same time.  It gives you a sense of power.  I mean, I can destroy this person just by _touching_ them.  But also, it's horrible.  I'm, like, unintentionally going into this person's brain and taking everything out of there.  I can feel that person dying as I touch them.  And then when I stop, they're still there.  I become, like, two persons in one body.  I can always feel them, trying to take over.  Can you imagine not even being in control of your own body?"  Rogue giggle nerviously, "Sorry for givin' ya the whole 'story of my life' bit, sugar."

            "It's alright," Dawn reassured her, "So, um, what did you feel when you touched me?"

            There was a beat of silence before Rogue answered, "It was…different from anyone else I've touched.  Well, I mean, everyone's different, but your's was…more different.  Normally I see flashes of their life, but for you, I mostly saw bright green light.  After a while I saw flashes.  But, well, you know.  You are the Key and all.  So, Dawn?"

            "Hmmm?"

            "What's that like?  Do you feel…different?"

            "Well, yes and no.  I don't _feel_ different, per se.  But knowing I'm different makes me feel different, ya know?"

            Rogue nodded.  Once again, silence filled their little room.

            "So, Rogue?"

            "Yeah?" she answered.

            "Do you think we'll get out of here?" Dawn asked.

            No answer.

            "Rogue?  Rogue?!"

            "Where are we?" Rogue asked.

            "What?  We already went over this!"

            "Huh?  Oh, right," Rogue fibbed.

            "Oh, no…" Dawn sighed, "Carol?"

            "Yeah, it's me.  Where are we?" Carol asked.

            "I don't know.  Magneto captured us.  We don't know what he wants,"  Dawn answered.

            "Wait a minute.  This does look kinda familiar.  This is Magneto's lair.  How'd we get to New York so fast?"

            "What do you mean so fast?  I've been unconscious for a while, and you've—I mean Rogue has—been completely out of it for hours."

            Carol spat, "Rogue!  God, I hate her!  This is all her fault!"

            "What?!" Dawn exclaimed.

            "If she had just done the job right the first time.  But, noooooo!  She couldn't do that!  Not to trouble her delicate self!  And then, she goes and completely steals my soul!  She's worse than Magneto!"

            Dawn rolled her eyes.  She did pity Carol; she really did.  It's gotta be hell to lose your own body.  But this complaining wasn't helping anything.  "Look, Carol, I'm really sorry about what's happened, and I know Rogue is, too.  She didn't mean to steal your life-force.  And she didn't steal your soul; I've seen people without souls and believe me, you're not it.  And Rogue's "job" that she was "too delicate" to do?  It involved killing herself and eventually killing a lot of New Yorkers.  And while I know it's gotta be awful for you, but we need to focus.  Do you know what Magneto wanted with Cordelia?"

            Carol shook her head, "He only told me the things I needed to know.  But I did hear him, this one time, saying that Cordelia is special because she is a successful hybrid.  He also mentioned learning more about her powers, but that's all I know."

            "That's alright," Dawn said appeasingly, "Can't win 'em all."

            After a long silence, Carol asked, "Do you think we'll get out of here?"

            "Yeah, my sister is probably working on it right now."

Back at Slayer Central…

"So," Xander, who was called sometime between the complex and now (I didn't really want to get into it, but I felt he should be in the story, ya know, being on the show and all) said to Logan, "Your codename is Wolverine,  huh?"

"Yeah, and?"

"You all get codenames?" he asked hopefully.

"Your point?"

"I call 'Nighthawk'!"

Logan, Buffy, Spike, and Anya all rolled their eyes and groaned at Xander's attempted humor.

"We need to focus," Buffy stated, "We know that Magneto, Rogue, Dawn, and probably Cordelia are back in our dimension.  Logan, do you know where Magneto might possibly take them?"

Logan thought for a moment, then shook his head, "I have no idea where he might keep them.  But I do know how to look.  I know this guy who's a telepath, and he has a machine that helps him sense mutants.  He's used it to find Rogue before, and he can do it again."

"But why doesn't he just use it to find Magneto?" Spike asked.

Logan regarded him thoughtfully for a moment before replying, "That's what I thought, too.  But Magneto has found some way to block the machine."

"How?" Spike asked.

"He helped the Prof build it."  Logan then went off to reach the professor.  He called the mansion, and much to his chagrin, Scott answered.

"We got a problem, Cyke," Logan told him.

"We know.  Magneto's up to something, but we don't know what," Scott replied.

"I have an idea.  He's taken Rogue and two other girls.  It's a really long story.  We need to get back to New York.  How soon can you get here?"

"In the Blackbird?  A little more than an hour.  Where are we supposed to meet you?"

"Sunnydale, California.  It's a small town a few hour's drive from LA."

 "Alright.  We'll be there shortly."

"Thanks," Logan said, putting an end to their brief conversation.

"Well?" Buffy inquired when Logan reentered the living room.

"They'll get here in an hour or two, and then we're going to New York to find Rogue and Dawn."

"Sounds like a plan.  Except now I have two hours to worry and imagine worst case scenarios.  Yay for waiting," Buffy concluded sarcastically.

"So, what are the X-Men like?" Xander asked, hoping to break the tension.

"They're…different.  That's for sure," Logan replied, "They're not the most interesting people, well, except for the mutations, but they get the job done.  They can be alright sometimes."

"What are the ones who are coming here like?"

"Only a few are coming here because they're taking us there."

"That's so neat!  We'll get to meet all sorts of freaks, and wait a minute, I just realized that I'm going to be the only human around.  Man, how come I don't have any cool quirks?"

"That's not true, Xander," Buffy said, "You…well, you know…you help fight the good fight.  I probably wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you," she concluded sincerely.

"Aw, Buff, that's a sweet way of saying I've got nothing, and it in no way helps my bruised ego."

Logan whispered to Spike, "Do they always act so…nonchalant about serious situations?"

"Yeah, kind of sad innit?  I can't believe that I could never kill any of them," Spike replied, "Although now, I'm kinda glad I didn't kill them.  If nothing else, they're bloody amusing."

1-2 hours later a few miles outside of Sunnydale, where a big jet wouldn't be as noticed as in the middle of town.

            Buffy, Spike, Logan, Xander, and Anya stood around anxiously waiting for the Blackbird to land.  

            Almost immediately after the Blackbird landed, a guy with red and black eyes

came rushing out followed by a guy with red sunglasses and a beautiful lady with white hair.

            "What happened to Rogue?" the guy asked worriedly.

            "I'm sorry.  You are?" Xander asked somewhat sarcastically.

            "Buffy, Spike, Anya, and Xander, meet Remy, Scott, and 'Roro, aka, Gambit, Cyclops, and Storm," Logan said.

            "Bonjour," Remy said quickly before turning to Logan, "Where is Rogue?"

            "What are you doing here, Cajun?" Logan asked, "You're too young to be going off searching for adventure."

            "Yeah," Buffy agreed, "Adventure generally equals badness.  I say, veto the adventure."

            "Gambit doesn't care 'bout the danger, mon ami, Gambit cares about Rogue," Remy said. (Yeah, that speaking in 3rd person annoys me, but that's how he does it) 

            "Boyfriend, huh?" Xander remarked.

            "Can we continue this little chat on board?  The sun's coming up, and I'm not much of a day person," Spike suggested.

            Cyclops regarded Spike and the rest of the Scoobies for a moment before pulling Logan aside.  "Logan, what are these people doing here?  They're not capable of handling someone like Magneto.  We could be putting innocent lives in danger," he muttered.

            Logan snorted, "Incapable?  These people have seen more action than you ever will, junior.  And they're not quite so uptight about it."  A pause, "Well, either that, or they're completely crazy."

            "Now's not the time for jokes, Logan.  What's their connection to this.  We don't even know if we can trust them," he said emphatically.

            "We _can_.  I know you worry about innocent lives, but these people can take care of themselves."

            "We don't know this for sure.  You said it yourself, they could be completely out of their minds.  They—" 

            He was interrupted by Spike, "Hey, mates, you realize I can hear everything you're saying, right?"  Cyclops turned his head away, his face betraying his shock and anger.

            "Yeah, and for your information…um…Mr. Red Eye, this MagnaDoodle guy you're talking about?  I'm pretty sure we can handle anything he throws at us.  There's a lot you don't know about good ol' Sunnydale, and not much surprises us anymore."

             "And I meant what I said.  We should get into the jet.  We can't waste time bickering over each other's battle stories because I'm pretty sure I've got you all beat.  Also, sunrise is pretty near."

            "Scott," Storm said, "They're right.  We can't waste valuable time.  Who knows what could be going on right now.  We have to get to Rogue."

            "And Dawn and Cordy," Buffy insisted.

            Scott turned to look at her, "Who?"

            She sighed, "Inside."  She began marching up into the jet. 

            Once inside, Buffy asked, "Is it alright if we make a quick stop in LA?"

            "What for?" Logan aske.d

            "Angel."

            "Buffy—" Xander began.

            "Nuh-huh.  Don't," she admonished, "He wants to find Cordy as much as we want to find Dawn.  He'd feel hurt if he didn't get to help."

            "But Buff, he's…but the guy…aw, forget it.  Let's go get Deadboy," Xander agreed.

            "Deadboy?" Cyclops questioned.

            "Oh, um, it's just a nickname he gave him.  Because…" Buffy started.

            "Because he once had sex with a dead body," Anya, who had recently seen _Clerks_ said.  (If you haven't seen _Clerks, _you really should.  It's hilarious.)

            Buffy winced.  

            Xander cringed.  

            Spike couldn't stop laughing.

            "Well, technically he _did, _ya know, with Darla and Drusilla," Anya defended herself.

            "Anya," Buffy pleaded, "_shut up!_"  

            "Fine," Anya huffed.

            Buffy breathed a sigh of relief and called Angel on her cell phone.  

            "Angel Investigations, we help the—" a male voice said.

            "I need to talk to Angel," Buffy interrupted.

            "Sure, fine," the voice said.  

            A moment later, Angel came on the line, "Hello?"

            "Angel, it's me.  We're going to save Dawn and Cordelia."

            "Where are you?  I'll meet you there.  And don't say 'no', because I' going."

            "I thought you would.  Hey, hold on a sec."  Putting a hand over the mouthpiece, she called to Cyclops, "How far are we from LA?"

            "In this jet?  Half an hour, at most," he answered.

            "Great.  Um, can this thing do water?" she pressed.

            "Yeah…" he replied.

            "OK.  That's good.  We're gonna stop on a beach just outside of LA to pick up one more passenger.  Got it?  Good."

            "Is she always this bossy?" Scott whispered to Xander. 

            Xander gave a brief laugh, "Oh, you have much to learn, young grasshopper."

            "Uh, right.  I'll just take that as a 'yes'" Scott said.

            Buffy missed this exchange, diverting all her attention back to the phone.

            "Angel?  Did you hear all that?" she asked.

            "Half an hour on the beach; yup, got it.  I guess I'll have to bring a blanket, though.  Wouldn't do much good as a pile of dust."

            "No, I guess not," Buffy replied, "So, I guess I'll see ya then.  Bye, Angel."

            "Bye."

            After he hung up, Buffy collapsed back into the seat; she hadn't even realized she'd been sitting on edge throughout the conversation.  _Even after three years, talking to him is the most emotionally draining activity I ever do_, she thought to herself.

            Half an hour later…

            Buffy emerged from the Blackbird and quickly scanned the landscape.  Huddled in the shade of a rocky cliff (think that beach that he was on when Connor stuck him in a box) was Angel, wrapped in a heavy blanket.  She waved him over, and he ran as fast as he could into the jet.  He walked in, still smoking from the sun, to find unfamiliar perplexed faces, and more familiar less perplexed faces.  Then there was a certain peroxide blonde.  "Spike" he growled, his eyes flashing amber.

            "Angelus!" Spike said cheerfully.

            "What are you doing here?"

            "I always wanted to fly in a plane, see the world," Spike said in an airhead voice.  Continuing in his normal Spikey manner, he said, " What does it look like I'm doing, you bloody ponce?  I'm helping rescue Niblet and the others."

            "You've never helped anyone in your life, Spike, except help make it a living hell," Angel spat out.

            "As opposed to you?  Brooding and moping in your nancy-boy hair gel.  I'd take evil over that anyday.  Hell, I'd take a coma over that anyday," Spike said cockily.

             "I can oblige," Angel snarled.

            "Enough!" Buffy shouted.  "Angel, Spike's…different than he used to be, and he really loves Dawn.  He's staying."  Spike smirked over her shoulder.   "And Spike," she continued, "stop baiting him like that, or I'll tell him what you told me."  Spike immediately wiped the smile off his face.   "Honestly, you two, you're the oldest ones here, well, except Anya.  Grow up!"

            Storm looked at the two vampires and the ex-demon.  "How old are you three, anyway?"

            "What?" Buffy asked innocently.

            "You said they were the oldest, but they look no older than 25.  How old are they?"

            Remy added, "And why was…what's-his-name, Angelus?" 

            "Angel," said vampire said.  (Well, that's an awkward sentence.)

            "Whatever.  Why was he smoking?" Remy asked.

            "We might as well tell them, Buff.  They'd find out eventually anyways," Xander suggested.

            "Why did we even lie in the first place?" Anya asked.  The Scoobies fell silent at a loss of explanation.  There was absolutely no point to that lie, but they'd gotten so used to lying it became second nature.  "I thought so," Anya said smugly.

            "Who wants to explain?" Buffy asked wearily.

            Spike jumped at the chance, "Well, Peaches, here, and me are both vampires, hence the daylight smoking thing and the old age.  My little nicknames help for the rest.  Demon-girl over there is an ex-ex-vengeance demon, over one thousand years old.  The Whelp is just that…"

            "Hey!" the Whelp, I mean Xander, said.

            "And Slayer there is the Slayer." Spike finished.

            "The what?" Scott asked.

            "Slayer.  One girl in all the world, yada, yada, yada, stop the forces of evil, yada, yada, yada, slay vampires and demons, yada, yada, yada," Buffy explained.

            "But what's the importance of your friends being kidanapped?" Storm asked.

            "Dawn's the Key.  She's, well, a key to opening the dimensional door.  And Cordy?" Buffy looked to Angel to explain the rest.

            "Cordy was a normal human, but she was given the power to see visions from the Powers that Be.  They were killing her, so she became a half-demon," he said.

            "So she successfully became part human part non-human?" Logan asked.

            "Part human and part demon, yeah.  Why?"

            Scott answered, "Magneto tried something similar once before, unnaturally mutating a person.  But because the mutation was unnatural, his cells broke down, and he died.  If Cordelia is successfully living as a half-human half…demon—"

            Logan interrupted, "He'll study her until he can recreate the effect."'

            "His mutating device was a disaster," Scott informed the Scoobies.

            "We gotta stop him," Storm said direly.  

            Buffy shook her head, "We _will_ stop him."


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry to interrupt again, but here I had answered some comments in the review section.  I've decided to keep them here for any new readers (of which I hope there are boatloads).  OK, the most common complaint: the X-Men's lack of surprise to the vampire news and such.  Well, I'm gonna say that as mutants who fight people like Magneto all the time, they're not surprised by much.  Plus, they're in business-mode, focusing on their mission only, so they're not gonna get sidetracked with surprised.  Moreover, they've already had contact with supernatural stuff.  Well, I think so, anyway.  I don't actually read the comics, but sometimes I read those books that are based on the comics, and in one of them, they encounter vampires (I think it was Dracula and Bellagio, who I believe killed Colossus' sister).  To answer another question, Buffy and Scott are not related.  I know that they share the same last name and that many X-Men/Buffy crossovers have that cousins angle going on, but 'Summers' is a very common surname, and it's just a coincidence that they both have it.  And uh, obviously, based on X2_, _Toad and Sabertooth are, alas, dead, but I like them, so they're alive in my story.

I have to add one more disclaimer.  The idea of Cordy being successful human/demon hybrid was taken from an Angel/X-Men crossover.  You can read it here.                

            In their cell, Dawn and Carol were alerted by the sound of footsteps.  A moment later, the bars of their cell were bent to allow passage through them, and Magneto stepped through them.   

            "Good afternoon, ladies," he said cordially.  Dawn and Carol glared at him silently.  After a moment, he continued, "Not in the mood for conversation, I see."

            "What do you want?" Carol asked evenly, considering the circumstances.

            "To the point.  Good.  I want you to come somewhere more comfortable," Magneto said.

            "What's the catch?"

            "No catch, I assure you.  I just don't think it's fair to you to be locked up here when you can be better taken care of."

            Carol snorted, "Like you're best known for keeping your promises.  And where do you get off talking about what's fair.  What's _fair_ would be to be at home in New York with my son, in my own damn body!  Speaking of which, where the hell is it?"

            Magneto looked genuinely sad for a moment, "I'm sorry, Carol.  Mystique brought your body here when she left the complex.  You—it—is in a coma.  I had Mystique take it to a hospital.  You should be fine, if your body every regains brain waves."

            "If it ever _what_?" Carol nearly screamed.  "You know what?  I don't need this.  I don't need any of this!" she said, storming past Magneto out of the cell.

            Magneto watched her go then turned to Dawn, "And you, my dear?  Do you wish to remain here or join your friends?"

            "Friends?  Who else is here?" she muttered.

            "Oh, right, you don't know.  When we reappeared, Cordelia was waiting for us," he answered.  Dawn eyed him warily, unsure of whether he was telling the truth.  "Oh, come now.  Go and see for yourself."  

            Dawn remained still for a moment more then quickly followed in Carol's footsteps.  Once she had passed Magneto, she turned around and said to Magneto, "Just so you know.  Whatever you've got planned, it won't work.  Buffy _will_ find me.  And she'll annihilate you."  

            Magneto smiled to himself at her words.  He waited a few more moments before turning and following her into his compound.  

            Dawn and Carol were entirely surprised to see the hard, metallic compound give way to a posh living area.  There was a large kitchen, a dining room, a den area complete with a grand fireplace, and while the place wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing site (Dawn had seen some nicer homes on _MTV's Cribs_, but then again, she had seen some garish homes as well) it was still very nice.  

            Magneto joined them in the room saying, "Now isn't this more comfortable than the cell?  While the Brotherhood may be considered by some to be a 'terrorist organization', that does not mean that we can't live comfortably."

            Dawn ignored his comments to ask, "Where's Cordelia?"

            "Oh my God, Dawn!" Cordelia exclaimed, running into the room and giving Dawn a hug, "Are you okay?  Are you hurt?  Did anything happen?" 

            Dawn sighed in relief, "I'm fine.  Are you okay?  Did—" Dawn looked around and saw Magneto was still there.  "Can you give us some privacy?" she asked icily.

            "Of course," Magneto agreed, leaving the room, "Just call if you need anything?"

            Once he left, Dawn said, "Did Magneto do anything to you?"

            "No," Cordelia assured her, "He hasn't done anything."  Turning towards Carol, she said,   "What about you, Carol?  Are you alright?" 

            Carol looked at her strangely.  "Who are you?"

            "I'm Cordelia.  We met in the, um, other dimension," Cordy said.

            Carol's suspicion remained unabated.  "I've never met you in my life," she said.  Realization dawned upon her, and she added, "Rogue must have been in control when you met me, um, her, or us.  Whatever, you know what I mean."

            Cordelia smiled warmly, "Oh, sorry.  Well, I'm Cordelia Chase.  I've known Dawnie here for a while.  And I'm sure that we're gonna be alright."

            Carol nodded slowly, still apprehensive.  "Right," she said wanly.

            "Really, Carol," Dawn assured her, "Cordy's cool.  Plus, I'm sure Buffy will get us out of here."

            Carol smiled more surely, hiding her doubt, "Yeah.  Everything will be fine.  It's nice to meet you, Cordelia.  I, uh, I think I'm just gonna go and give you guys some time to catch up.  I'm really tired, anyway.  So, um, see ya."

            Cordelia watched her go.  "What's her deal?  She was totally wiggin'"

            "She's been through a lot today.  But she's really nice.  Both of them are," Dawn said.  After a moment, Dawn spoke up again.  "Cordy?"

            "Yeah?"

            "Do you really think we'll be safe?  I don't like this Magneto guy."

            "Me neither, Dawnie, but, well…I hate to say this, but he doesn't seem, _too_ too bad."

            "What?!" Dawn exclaimed.

            "Think about it, Dawnie.  He hasn't hurt us so far,"

            "Except for Rogue and Carol," Dawn interrupted.

            "Well, yeah," Cordelia admitted.  "But, well, his goals are good; it's just his ways of going about them are, well, not so much."

            Dawn cried, "But Cordy, how can you—"

            Cordelia interrupted her, "I'm not saying we have to agree with him.  I'm not saying we have to like him.  I'm just saying that I don't think he's, like, Hellmouth evil."

            "Maybe," Dawn said doubtfully.

            "Here," Cordelia said, giving her a hug, "Why don't you go rest up?  Magneto has given us some nice rooms with comfy beds.  See?  I wouldn't expect the Master or the Mayor to do something like that."

            "Beds?  Carol and I have been a cell this whole time while there were _beds_?  How long have we been here anyway?" Dawn asked.

            "A day or so," Cordy said distractedly before exclaiming, "Wait, you were in a cell?  That doesn't make sense.  Why would he do that only to let you out now?  And why wouldn't he put me in one?"

            "Maybe he likes you more," Dawn suggested.

            Cordelia chuckled, "Whatever, Dawnie.  Get some rest.  We'll get out of here soon enough and you need your strength."

            "Sure, see ya later, Cordy.  You should get some rest, too," Dawn said.

            "I will," Cordy agreed, "Don't worry about me."

Meanwhile…

            Carol ran to the nearest bedroom.  Once there, she searched the place for a pen and paper.  _I need to hurry_ she thought, _I don't know when Rogue will take over again._  She didn't trust Cordelia, but she didn't want Dawn to know yet.  Dawn obviously liked and trusted this Cordelia, and Carol didn't want to break that trust just yet.  If Dawn found out and took it the wrong way, Carol could be on her own.  But she didn't want to forget her suspicion either, and she was afraid that that might happen once Rogue took over. 

            Finally finding a pen, Carol grabbed a random book and tore out the cover page.  She wrote across it:

            Cordelia, not who she says she is?  How did she know about me (Carol) if she only met Rogue?

            She then folded up the paper and stuffed into her pocket.  Taking "Cordelia's" advice into consideration, she decided that she really did need to sleep.  If something happened, she wanted to be ready.  She then lay on the bed and went to sleep.

            After leaving the den, Magneto went into his office where he found Cordelia waiting for him.

            "Hi, Erik," Cordy said brightly.

            "Hello, Cordelia," Magneto greeted in return, "I hope you weren't too bored."

            "No, not at all.  Well, maybe a little.  Some.   More or less.  A lot.  OK, fine, completely.  You've really got to accessorize in here.  It's just so…empty.  All it is a lot of metal.  Although the little bouncing ball thingie without the strings is kinda neat.  Your power is so cool."

            "Yes, well—" Magneto started, but Cordy continued blathering.

            "Now you say I'm half-demon right?  So what are my powers?  Or is it something totally lame?  I hope I can fly.  That would be so cool," 

            "Cordelia?" Magneto asked.

            "Yes?  Oh, I'm boring you aren't I?  I'm sorry, it's just this is so weird, you know?  I don't remember a thing!  Who I am, what I like, what I dislike, who my family is, who my friends are, do I have a job…I don't know anything.  It's like I've lost a part of myself."

            "I know," Magneto said sympathetically, "And I assure you I will do everything in my power to give you your memory back."

            Cordelia smiled, "Thanks, Erik.  Hey, how are the girls we brought here?  Are they okay?"

            "They're perfectly fine," Magneto answered, "They're just resting up.  You can meet them later, if you'd like."

            Cordelia said, "Yeah, I'd like to help them.  I feel so bad for them.  I mean, why do these people hate mutants so much that they would want to hurt them?"

            "Fear," Magneto replied simply, "People naturally fear what they do not know."  Just then, Mystique walked into the room.  Magneto turned to speak to her, "I trust things went well with?"  Mystique nodded silently.  "Excellent.  Why don't you show Ms. Chase here to her room.  There is a surprise waiting for her there."

            "What?  Surprise?  Let's go already!" Cordelia said with glee.  

            Mystique led Cordelia to her room, trying to block out her incessant chattering.

            "—so I was thinking that flying would be a pretty cool power.  But as long as I didn't need wings.  I wouldn't want to look like a freak…oh, sorry.  But, now I'm not sure.  I think that telepathy would be pretty neat, too.  What's your power?"

            In answer, Mystique morphed into Cordelia.

            "Wow!  That is so cool.  I want that to be my power, too!  What else can you do?  Can you morph into other people.  Oh, like James Marsden or Hugh Jackman.  They are some major hotties!"

            Mystique morphed into James Marsden for her, then sighed in relief when they reached Cordelia's door.  Morphing back into her original shape, she opened the door for Cordelia.

            "So what's my surprise?" she asked.

            Mystique rolled her eyes and gestured at the various types of chocolate in the room.

            "Chocalate?" Cordelia asked unsurely.  "Do I like chocolate?"  Mystique shrugged in response, so Cordelia tentatively picked up a Hershey's Kiss and popped it into her mouth.  "Mmmmmmm!  I love chocolate!  Tell Erik thank you for me." Mystique nodded then quickly left before Cordelia could talk anymore.

            After she left, Cordelia lay down on the bed, eating chocolate, and thinking to herself.  _Erik is being so nice, but I just have this instinct that something is off.  I just have this feeling that there's something he's not telling me.  And it's not like I can really figure it out for myself without my memory.  And I wonder about those two other girls.  I hope they're OK.  I can't imagine someone hurting poor defenseless girls.  I just wish I could shake this feeling that something is completely wrong here._


	8. Chapter 8

            For the rest of the trip back to New York, the Blackbird was segregated between the X-Men and the Scoobies.  Neither group completely trusted each other yet.

            "What do you think of them?" Buffy asked the rest of the Scoobies towards the rear of the Blackbird.

            Anya answered, "Well, Scott is cute in the traditional All-American boy sense, and Logan has this rugged, handsomeness about him.  But Gambit is all-around sexy, especially with that hot eye-thing going for him.  Plus that accent."

            Buffy rolled her eyes, "I meant as a whole, Anya.  Do you guys think we can trust them?"  

            "Well they seem to be really worried about Rogue's safety.  And they weren't wigged by the demonness and vampirey ways of the Scoobies," Xander said, "That's a plus!"

            "What about fighting skills?" Angel asked, "How are they in that respect?"

            "Logan knows how to fight, but I don't know about the others.  I mean, if they're mutants, they gotta have some handy skills to add, right?" Buffy said. 

            "What are their powers?  Maybe it's something like telepathy, which although it is neat, isn't really useful in a fight," Spike pointed out.  

            At this point, Logan got tired of pretending he couldn't hear their conversation.  So he announced, "OK, just to clear up this little issue here.  You can trust the X-Men, and they can handle themselves in a fight.  Cyke shoots powerful red beams from his eyes.  Storm controls the weather.  Gambit does whatever-the-hell the thing is where he can turn basically everything into a grenade.  Got it?  Good.  Now let's get past this and focus on rescuing our friends."

            There was a moment of silence following his little outburst, broken only by Gambit saying, "It's the energy."

            "What?" Buffy asked.

            "Gambit changes the potential energy of an object into kinetic energy.  Playing cards are my weapons of choice," he replied.

            "And another thing," Logan added, "Telepathy is more useful than you might think."

            "Not to mention annoying as hell," Buffy added.

            "Huh?"

            Buffy let out a short laugh, "Don't ask."

            There was a long silence.

            More silence.  Maybe some thinking thrown in there, too.  Ya know, for good measure. 

            "So what's our plan for fighting this Magneto guy?" Anya asked.

            "We're going to work that out when we get back to the mansion," Storm replied, "We'll talk to the Professor, see what he thinks" 

            "And when do we get there?" Xander questioned.

            "It shouldn't be too long now."

            And, indeed, it wasn't.  

            No more than a half hour later, they were back at the Mansion.  Descending from the Blackbird, the Scoobies took in their surroundings with awe.

            "Wow," Buffy stuttered, "This is just so…wow."

            "I'd say 'wow' about covers it," Xander agreed.

            "Let's go talk to the Professor," Scott said, taking charge immediately.

            (Oh, since the Mansion is really a school, it is a public place, so Spike and Angel don't need an invitation.)

            They found the Professor in his study along with some other people whom the Scoobies assumed were mutants.

            Good morning Buffy heard in her head.  She looked around surprised, noting the surprised expressions on Xander and Anya's faces, but her questioning gaze found its way back to the Professor.  Somehow she knew it was him.  

            "How?  What?  How?" Xander stammered.

            "Physics," Logan said with a smirk in Xavier's direction. (Ya know, how in the movie when Logan comes in and Xavier just says "Physics" when Kitty phases through the door)

            "How—how did you that…_thing_ with the talking but not really talking but I hear it anyways?" Xander asked, bewildered.

            "What the hell are you jabbering about?" Spike demanded.

            "You didn't hear it?" Anya asked, "In your head?  His voice?"  Both Spike and Angel shook their heads, looking at her like she was crazy.

            "Let me introduce myself properly.  I am Professor Charles Xavier.  You are in my school for the gifted.  For mutants.  You've already met some of us: Storm, Cyclops, and Gambit.  These you see with me now are Jean Grey, Kurt Wagner, also known as Nightcrawler, and Hank McCoy, also known as Beast."

            The Scoobs were a little put off by the mutants surrounding Xavier.  While he and Jean Grey looked normal enough, their companions looked demonic.  Kurt looked like a fuzzy, blue elf.  He had three-fingered hands, a prehensile tale, and yellow eyes.  Beast seemed to be a suitable moniker for Hank McCoy.  He was a large, bulking, blue, furry beast.  Nightcrawler and Beast almost looked like something Buffy should be slaying.  However, her fears were quickly allayed when she saw their demeanor.

            "Guten tag," Kurt greeted.  

            Beast stepped forward to both Buffy and Anya, kissing their hands and saying, "It is an honor to meet such lovely women as yourselves."

            "Hi," Buffy responded, blushing, "I'm Buffy, and this is Anya, Xander, Spike and Angel."

            "Nice to meet you," Jean said, "Um, I have to ask.  None of you seem to be mutants, although I can't sense anything from you two [gesturing to Spike and Angel].  What relation do you have Rogue's disappearance?"

            "Wow, you just cut right to the chase, don't you?" Buffy murmured to herself.  

            "What do you mean 'sense'?" Spike asked, "What's your power?"

            "I'm telekinetic, you  know, moving things with my mind and all.  I'm also a psi, although the Professor is much stronger than I am."

            "You're telepathic, you mean?" Buffy clarified.  At Jean's nod, she turned to the others, "What about you two?"

            "What?  You can't tell?" Kurt asked playfully.  "My stunning good looks are powers of themselves.  I have to fend off women wherever I go.  Sex appeal like this is really a curse, but someone has to do it, and I will bravely be that someone."

            Buffy chuckled in spite of herself, while Anya regarded him thoughtfully.  "I can see it.  You do have this exotic, dashing attraction.  I've dated much worse.  Him for one," she said, nodding in Xander's direction.  "But seriously, what is your power?"

            In response, Kurt teleported (hereafter, it will simply be called "porting") to her side and planted a peck on her cheek, leaving behind a waft of sulfurous smoke in his wake.  Anya blushed happily.  "I'm also quite agile.  Cirque du Soleil, eat your heart out!" he bragged.

            "Lay off the theatrics, elf, we got work to do," Logan ordered.

            "Oh, I don't mind," Anya volunteered, earning herself a smile from Kurt and a dirty look from Xander.  

            "What about you?" Angel asked Beast.

            "My mutation endowed me with advanced agility, much like my gregarious comrade.  Although it was at the cost of my once striking looks," he rejoined.          

            "Come on now, fraulein," Kurt said, "we showed you ours, so you show us yours.  What are your gifts?"

            "'Gifts'?" Buffy snorted.

            "Your mutant abilities," he clarified, "We refer to them as 'gifts' here."

            "Isn't that special?" Buffy muttered bitterly. (At the time I wrote this, I was all pissed about Buffy being bitchy.  She never stopped being bitchy, but I care much less now)  "We're not mutants.  We're more of the supernatural variety." 

            "How do you mean?" Jean asked.

            "I'm a Slayer.  I slay vampires.  Super-strength, agility, speed, I got the whole package.  Xander's human.  Anya's a vengeance demon.  Spike and Angel are vampires."

            "Oh…of course," Jean stammered.

            "Vampires?" Beast reiterated, "Fascinating.  I would love the chance to study you."

            "Oh, no," Spike exclaimed, "No scientist is getting near my head again.  Go look at Peaches."

            "What does fruit have anything to do this?" Beast asked, confused.

            Buffy clarified, "No, no, Angel is Peaches." 

            Angel seethed while Spike snickered.

            "Oh, my apologies," Beast said with a chuckle.

            "What's a vengeance demon?" Jean asked.

            Anya piped up, glad to answer a question, "I grant scorned women wishes against their exes.  So if your boyfriend ever cheats on you or something, I can grant a wish to, say, make his penis disappear."  All the guys paled at the thought.   

            "This has been a rough night for everyone," Xavier announced.  "Why don't we all get some sleep and then reconvene tomorrow.  It's nearly 8 a.m. and some of us here haven't slept all night."

            The next morning, or rather, the next afternoon, the Scoobies finally awoke to join the X-Men who had to be up early to teach.  Once everyone had arrived in the Professor's office, the planning began.  First, they had to make sure everyone was up to speed on everything.

            Professor recounted the story for everyone.  But I'm not gonna do that, cuz you all know the story unless you suddenly lost your memory between the last paragraph and this one.  Anyways, the Prof continues…

            "From what Scott says, in all likelihood, it seems as if Magneto is trying to repeat his stunt from the Ellis Island incident.  Now, you say that your friend Cordelia is a half-demon, half-human, correct?  So he will probably study her to find out where she's successful while Senator Kelly is dead.  And Dawn is actually a mystical energy known as the Key made human into the form of Buffy's sister.  I'm still not clear as to the powers she might possess."

            "She doesn't have any powers herself," Buffy answered, "The power is, um, in her blood.  Since she was originally pure energy, some monks made her into my sister using my blood.  So, she can be used to tear down the wall between dimensions, basically causing an apocalypse.  Once opened, only Dawn's or my blood can close it."

            "How do you know all this?" Jean asked.

            "I, um…we had to face this, uh, goddess.  And she was…you know…starting the ritual.  So I, uh, kinda jumped into the portal to close it, and I, um, sorta died a little," Buffy said, getting softer and softer as she went on.

            "Leiber gott!" Kurt exclaimed, "You died?"  

            "But how can you be here today?" Storm asked.

            "Willow, my friend, she's a really strong wicca, and she brought me back."

            "You were resurrected?  That's impossible.  Only the Son of God has ever done that.  And only at the Second Coming will our bodies rise again to join with our souls in Heaven," said Kurt.

            "But it wasn't anything like that!" Buffy exclaimed, "You know, not that I really believe in that anyways.  But it was a spell.  And, shouldn't we get back to finding our friends?"   

            "She's right.  There will be time for this conversation later," Xavier said, "Now, Logan says that he saw Rogue touch Dawn.  And that endowed her with some of the Key's abilities to a much lesser degree, which is how they jumped to another dimension without causing the apocalypse.  That is essentially all we know.  Now we must find how to get them back."

            There was silence for a moment as everyone pondered the situation.

             Anya started, "He's finished with Dawn now, right?"

            "What do you mean?" Scott asked.

            "So far it seems as if her only use to him was as a source of power for Rogue so that they could skip dimensions and grab Cordelia.  But now that they have her, isn't he done with her?"

            "A most astute observation," Beast observed, "While it seems quite logical, we can't be too sure as to the ambitions of Magneto.  Your idea seems to be correct, but we mustn't assume anything." 

            "What else could he use her for?" Xander asked.

            Logan answered, "Knowing Magneto, anything.  He probably knows a lot about the Key.  He may be evil, but the man is meticulous.  He most likely researched the Key.  Maybe even knows more about it than you."

            That reminded Buffy of something.  "How would he know all this, though?  I thought you said he was in jail.  So how could have researched me?  And he obviously has because when I fought Mystique in the frat house, she knew a lot about my past."

            "Erik is not a foolish man," Xavier replied, "He knows how to prepare for a job.  He generally leaves nothing up to chance, so he would make sure he knew everything about the people who might stand in his way, in this case, you.  In all likelihood, he looked up everything he could on you, talked to people who may have known you, and researched what being the Slayer entails.  I'm sure there must be records of your achievements as a Slayer, right?" Buffy nodded.  "He must have looked up those and learned everything he could."

            "But how could he have gotten to everything.  The Council keeps everything—"

            "Council?" Remy asked. 

            "Council of Watchers.  Some guide Slayers and potential Slayers while the rest keep tabs on all of us, generally being pains in the ass," Buffy explained offhandedly.  "But I don't understand how Magneto got to the records.  The Council keeps them under lock and key."

            "Magneto once had Mystique spy on Senator Kelly by pretending to be his aide.  She kept up the façade for quite some time.  Then, after Kelly died, she pretended to be him for a little while.  All without anyone, present company excluded, knowing," Scott provided.  

            Oh, and let's just say that Xavier got all the stuff about Henry Guyrich from Kelly's head, 'K?

            "Oh, well…I guess that explains that, then," Buffy mumbled.

            "Great.  Everyone caught up to speed now?" Spike said sarcastically speaking on behalf of everyone reading and writing this fic.  "Can we find the girls now?"

            "Of course," Xavier agreed.  "I'll go check Cerebro.  While I'm gone, try to think of some plans."

            "What's Cerebro?" Xander asked.

             Xavier heard Jean explaining the logistics of the machine as he exited the room.  He worked himself over to Cerebro and entered the chamber.  As he put on the helmet-like contraption, he spread his senses as far as he could, looking for one particular signature.  But he couldn't find it anywhere.  Discouraged, Xavier briefly considered the notion that Rogue might be dead.  Than he decided to try and find the mental signature of this Carol Danvers.  He felt a flicker of it in the Atlantic Ocean about five hundred miles from Long Island.

            As he reduced his sphere of perception into the Northeast area of the United States, the flicker grew into a much stronger presence, drawing Xavier closer and closer to its location.  Suddenly, it seemed as if her brainwaves just clicked off.  One second they were there, and the next it had all but disappeared.  Realizing what must have happened, Xavier returned to his search for Rogue's mind, and it appeared just as strong as he had left Carol's.   Noticing that she appeared strongest off the coast of New England, he focused more and more on her until he finally found her.  Allowing her surroundings to fall into place, he saw that she was in what looked like a bedroom alone.  Nothing about the place was recognizable.  Ignoring the surroundings, Xavier began to focus on the surrounding brainwaves.  He recognized Mystique, Toad and Sabertooth.  He also found a new one which he assumed belonged to Cordelia, as well as another unrecognizable one which was…well, "bright" was the only way to sorta describe it, so he assumed it was Dawn.  As usual, he couldn't find Magneto.  

            He was surprised to find a rather large amount of mutants close by, although all were unknown to him.  _What are you up to, Erik?_ He thought to himself.

Meanwhile…

            "—use it to find the location of other mutants, in this case, Rogue," Jean finished explaining about Cerebro.

            "Neat!"  Xander exclaimed, "The army never had nifty gadgets like that."

            "You were in the army?" Logan asked.

            "Well, sorta.  It's a long story," Xander said.  Logan shrugged, not really caring enough to learn more.

            "So, once we find them, how are planning to get them out?" Buffy asked.

            Scott answered, "We'll fly over there in the Blackbird, and grab them and go."

            "What, just walk in there and expect this Magneto guy to hand 'em over.  I really don't think that's gonna happen," Angel commented.

            "If we have to, we'll fight Magneto.  We've done it before," Storm pointed out.

             "If this guy keeps giving you blokes so much trouble, why don't you just kill him?" Spike asked.

            "We aren't murderers," Scott said firmly.

            "Neither are we, but if he harms my sister in any way, I will kill him," Buffy said just as resolutely.

            "You can't do that!" Storm exclaimed, "It isn't up to you to decide who lives and who dies."

            Logan retorted, "It seems to be that Magneto does exactly that.  He's hurt enough people.  It's time for him to go."

            "But the Professor sees something in him, something redeemable," Jean replied, "We can't just ignore that."

            "But we can ignore all the people he's killed?" Xander asked, "Someone has to put a stop to it."  

            Just then, Xavier reappeared.  "No one's killing anyone," he stated firmly, "Our main priority is rescuing the girls."

            "Where are they?" Angel asked.

            "I cannot say for sure," Xavier replied.  "It appears to be some unknown island in the Atlantic near New England.  I can't imagine how it's remained hidden all these years."

            "Maybe he built his own island," Buffy suggested partially in jest.

             "It isn't beyond his capabilities," Xavier mused.

            "What?  You're serious?" Anya asked, surprised.

            She went ignored as Scott thought out loud, "If he used enough power, could he actually raise a metal island from beneath the sea?"

            "I believe he could, my cyclopean friend, but that metal would already have to be present under the ocean, and I can attest with certain faith that it was not," the sesquipedalian Beast said.

            "Indeed, but Magneto also has both the capabilities and the resources to put it there," Xavier added.  "However, that is not my biggest concern.  There is an exceptionally large number of mutants present on or near that island."

            "Do you recognize any of them?" Storm asked.

            "No, but I would still be wary," Xavier replied.

            "Since when were we plannin' on bein' reckless?" Remy burst out, "Can't we just go dere and rescue dem now?"

            "He's right," Buffy agreed, "No matter how many people are there, we have to get through them.  Let's get there and get Dawn and the others off it."

            "Mein freund, you are right.  If your sister is as beautiful as you, then I am ready to risk my own dashing good looks to save her," Kurt concurred. 

            Buffy blushed in spite of herself.   With a quick, but dazzling, smile for Kurt, and a short glance backwards to see if the two vamps in her life were jealous—they were—she took charge, "OK, so we're probably gonna get there in that big, black—"

            Anya interrupted, "Penis-shaped.  Did anyone notice it's kind of penis-shaped?  Overcompensation much?"

            Logan chuckled softly and nodded towards Cyclops in one of those overly-exaggerated "subtle" gestures.

            "Anyway," Buffy said, "We'll get to the island on the penis—I mean jet.  Jet!  How will we find Magneto once we're there?"

            "We can do a quick overview of the island before we land, looking for buildings and such.  The Blackbird has a heat sensor we can use to find people there," Scott offered.

            "We can use that to find the girls as well," Jean added.

            "Right.  So we should probably split up.  Half of us go get Magneto; half of us get the girls.  Now all we need is weapons," Buffy briefed the group.

            "That's it?" Scott asked incredulously, "That's your plan?  Go there and find them?"

            "Yeah, you got a problem with that?"

            "Yeah, I do.  There's no strategy.  No battle tactics.  This is going to be a big conflict, and you don't even want to run through some fighting exercises?"

            Buffy narrowed her eyes, "Look, Slick, I've survived much worse battles with my only planning being "Don't die," and for that matter, my fighting skills are fine.  There are some benefits that come with being a Slayer."

            Seeing the threatening look in her eyes, Scott backtracked, "Look, I'm not saying that you aren't capable of handling yourself.  I just like going into battle well-prepared."

            "Fine," Buffy huffed, "What do you want to do?"

            "Danger Room."


	9. Chapter 9

Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooo!  La, la, la!  I'm as slippery as an eel!  I hate chemistry.  Søren Sørenson can kiss my ass.  So can Brønsted and Lowry.  What's with the ø's?  Hey, can anyone guess what I'm studying in chem. now?  Or where the slippery eel thing is from ?  Just curious.  Yada yada yada, on to the fic…

            "Uh, Danger Room?" Angel asked, looking befuddled (Well, that's not a change from his normal expression.  Ooooh, burn!).

            "It's our practice room," Jean explained.

            "OK, so we're up for a little training exercise.  I'm game," Buffy said somewhat cockily.

            "Not exactly," Scott smirked.

            "Scott, are you sure you want to do this?" Xavier asked.

            "Hey," Buffy said indignantly, taking his comment the wrong way, "We can hold our own, alright?"

            Xavier sighed, "I just meant that we have more pressing concerns."

            "We can always use the practice, Professor.  It will help us prepare for battle, and help us learn to trust each other," Scott rationalized.

            "Alright," Xavier acquiesced. 

            The X-Men, led the Scoobies to the Danger Room, which was part of the underground complex of the mansion.

            "Nice place," Spike remarked sarcastically, "It's some big, empty room."

            Buffy shrugged, "I've seen bigger." 

            Scott rolled his eyes, "Just you wait.  We'll be right back."

            After about five minutes, the X-Men returned in their snazzy, black leather uniforms.

            "Mmmmmmm," Anya murmured, eyeing the quite tasty-looking Gambit in his suit with a dark brown trench coat over it.

            Kurt _bamf_ed in next to her, "Come now, fraulein.  He's taken.  Despite how hard it is to believe, I remain single.  I believe I should focus on my duty…saving the world on a regular basis.  I'm actually the heart of the team.  I am, however, willing to make a concession for someone as lovely as you."  Anya blushed happily.  Putting his arm around her, Kurt said, "Maybe sometime when this is over—" 

            "Kurt, stop flirting!" Scott demanded. 

            With an apologetic smile to Anya, Kurt 'ported away to join the other X-Men, who stood facing the Scoobies with some sort of imaginary battle line between them.

            Xander looked around at all the X-Men, "Hey, where's Professor X?"

            "Our esteemed professor will be up in the control room, controlling today's exercises," Beast, who had forgone the leather bodysuit for a more comfortable navy Speedo thingy (I don't know, that's what he wore on that old TV show.  And by the by, did anyone know that both "Speedo" and "thingy" are in the Word dictionary?) explained.

            "So, what?  Is this some sort of fight, or race, or what?" Buffy asked.

            "It will be a simulation of some of the things we might encounter on the island," Scott explained.

            "And what?  Whoever lasts the longest wins?" Buffy said.

            Scott answered, "If you'd like to think of it that way, fine.  But it's just an exercise to help prepare us for the fight.'

            Buffy shrugged, "Alright, whatever you say, Slick."

            Scott looked up and called loudly, "Alright, Professor.  We're ready."

            Suddenly the walls, floors, and ceiling began to shift. 

            Dude, this was so cool.  I stopped here for a night, and I totally dreamed about this scene that night!  But it wouldn't work for the fic.

            "What's going on?" Anya asked, slightly worried.

            "Not to worry, fraulein.  I will protect you," Kurt said gallantly.

            "Kurt!" Scott admonished.  His voice softened as he explained, "It's just a simulation to help keep you on your toes.  You're perfectly safe in here.  You may get some cuts and bruises, but you'll be fine.  Just watch out.  It may be simulated or holographic in appearance, but it feels very real."

            And I'd just like to apologize in advance.  I suck at fight scenes 

            The room now appeared to be a grassy plain with a smattering of trees at midnight.  The Scoobs looked around the room in awe.  Their reverie was broken by a whirring sound.  Whirling around, they found that several miniature gun turrets were coming out of the ground.  Before they had time to react, the guns began shooting at them.  As the Scoobs tried to dodge the attacks, Cyclops nailed one of the turrets with his eyebeam while Wolverine took a more direct approach: running right at one of them, claws out, careful to avoid the "bullets".  The one he reached, he tore apart with his claws.  Gambit took out a few cards, charged them and tossed them with deadly precision at three of the guns, destroying each.  Nightcrawler kept the remaining ones busy by 'porting from place to place, never staying long enough for one to focus on him.  Meanwhile, Jean set up a mental link between everyone (except the two vamps because she couldn't get into their heads) so that they could communicate easily.  Through this link, she helped give warnings and instructions to the various people fighting, although it surprised the Scoobs when she popped into their heads, until she explained, of course.

            Taking a cue from the X-Men, the Scoobs went into action.  Buffy, Spike, and Angel each headed towards a turret.  Using their super strength, they each ripped one out of the ground.  Xander did his best to dodge the bullets, never gaining an advantage to fight back.  While they were busied with the guns, Anya noticed some figures heading towards them.

            "Hey, guys!  Watch out!" she called.  Buffy turned to look at what Anya was referring to.  She saw a bunch of vamps—about 15, she estimated—approaching.

            "Spike!  Angel!  C'mon!" Buffy shouted as she pulled a stake out from her jacket.  As the three entered the fray, Buffy asked Jean through her psi link, '_How would Magneto get a bunch of vamps to work for him?  They're not exactly the most sociable creatures.'_

            Scott answered in her head, '_We have to be prepared for every possibility, no matter how far-fetched.'_

            "Whatever," Buffy muttered to herself as she flipped the vamp she was fighting to the ground before staking him. 

            Meanwhile, as Gambit blew up the last gun with a charged up jack of diamonds, Wolverine spotted a trio of figures approaching.  "We got company," he announced.  The X-Men along with Anya and Xander charged forward.  When they got into close enough range, they saw that the figures were Mystique, Toad and Sabertooth.  Storm flew up into the air to create a storm that she could use to help her teammates down below.

            "What does it take to put you guys down?" Wolverine asked rhetorically.  

            Sabertooth leaped forward.  Picking up Wolverine, he snarled, "More than what you've got, runt."  Then tossed him aside.  Wolverine recovered quickly and popped his claws, falling easily a defensive stance.  Sabertooth rushed towards him once again, but this time Wolverine was ready.  He sidestepped the attack and whirled around to stab Sabertooth, who dodged so that Wolverine only ended up scratching his claws across his foe's back.  Sabertooth quickly retaliated and landed a good hit on Wolverine, who landed near Beast.  

            "Hey, Beast, give me a hand, eh?"

            "Certainly," Beast responded, and immediately readied himself for his tandem attack with Wolverine called the Fastball Special.  Beast picked him up and hurled him towards Sabertooth.  Wolverine latched on and slid his claws effortlessly through Sabertooth's thick hide.

            In the meantime, Mystique slinked towards Anya and Xander who readied themselves for attack.  "You know, for an evil, blue, scaly mutant, you're pretty hot," Xander remarked.

            "Xander!"  Anya exclaimed, disgusted.        

            "What?  I've always gone for the freaks.  Inca mummy girls, preying mantises, Cordelia, vengeance demons…" 

            Anya rolled her eyes, while Mystique looked slightly confused.  Then she smirked and morphed into Cordelia.  "You know, if you're thinking that I would have a harder time hurting you because you're someone I know and care about…" Xander paused and punched Mystique, "You picked the wrong person to become."   Mystique morphed back into her usual self and crescent kicked Xander, knocking him onto his back.

            "Xander!"  Anya cried, not out of disgust this time.  She rushed towards him, "Are you alright?" 

            "Yeah, I'm fine.  Kinda hurt though.  Why don't you try?  It might be kinda hot," he suggested.

            "You're such a perv, Xander," Anya said, but then took his advice and swung mightily at Mystique, pushing her back.  Mystique shook off the attack and rushed towards Anya, ready to take her out.  She tried to punch her, but Anya blocked it and kicked her in the solar plexus.  Mystique once again fell back.  Trying a different approach, she swept Anya's legs out from under her and straddled her waist.  She got one hit in before Anya used her position to flip Mystique over her.  She moved away so that they were facing each other.  Mystique jumped at her, twirling in the air (like that one she uses in the movie where she jumps at Wolverine while morphing from Logan to herself.  Get it?  Anyone?  Bueller?  Bueller?).  Instead of defending herself against that attack, Anya just teleported a few feet to the side so that Mystique just crashed to the ground.

                        Meanwhile, Nightcrawler and Gambit double-teamed Toad.  Nightcrawler's agility proved very helpful against the very nimble Toad.  Gambit had to forgo the playing cards lest he hit Nightcrawler as well as Toad, so instead, he pulled a metal baton (but not for a cheerleader) out of his trench coat that quickly elongated till it was about five feet long, and used it as a weapon.  He got one good swing in before Toad grabbed it out of his hands with his tongue.  Toad swept Gambit's legs out from underneath him before cockily twirling it about.  He was surprised, however, when, Nightcrawler _bamf_ed onto his shoulders and grabbed the baton with his prehensile tale.  Nightcrawler then flipped Toad and leapt towards Gambit, casually tossing the baton towards him with a few words of warning, "Better hold on to this next time, mein freund."

            "No worries, mon ami.  Gambit has learned his lesson," the Cajun mutant said.  Concentrating briefly, the baton began to glow with kinetic energy.  "If Gambit lets go, de t'ing will explode.  No one steals from a t'ief twice," he explained.  By this time, Toad had recovered and jumped high into the air, intending to land directly on the Cajun's shoulders.  Noticing this, Nightcrawler latched onto Gambit and _bamf_ed them both away.  When they reappeared a split second later, Gambit felt a little woozy, but Nightcrawler collapsed in pain.  It always hurts Nightcrawler to do a tandem 'port.    

            Toad hopped towards Gambit, "Looks like it's just the two of us," he said, then spit that goo into his face, covering his nose and mouth.  Gambit looked shocked for a moment, but quickly returned to fighting mode.  He immediately de-charged his baton and reached into his jacket for a card.  He charged it and tossed it at Toad.  He missed the resulting explosion because Cyclops had come to his aid, but he heard Toad's cry of pain.  Cyclops demolished the hardened goo on Gambit's faced with a well-placed beam.

            "You okay?" Cyclops asked.  Gambit nodded.  "Good.  Take Nightcrawler to Jean."  Gambit did as he was told, hefting his blue comrade onto his shoulders and carrying him over to Jean, who was a short distance away from the fight, maintaining the psi-link.  

            As this was going on, Buffy, Spike, and Angel fought against the vamps.  But no matter how many they killed, more just kept appearing.  "Okay, now I _know_ Magneto can't do this," Buffy muttered just as she was knocked to the ground by a vampire.  "You know we could use some help over here!" she shouted towards the others.  As the others were all busy with their own fights, Gambit was the only one able to come to their aide.

            "What should Gambit do?" he asked, warding off blow from a vampire.

            "Here," Buffy said, tossing him her stake, "Aim for the heart."

            Gambit shrugged and entered the fray.  However, he was unused to the ruthless brutality of vampires and was quickly knocked to the ground.  As the vamp leaned in to bite him, Gambit grabbed a card, charged it, and slammed it into the vamps mouth, then kicked him away.  Gambit flipped himself back into a standing position in time to watch the card explode in the vamps mouth, setting it on fire till it ultimately became dust.   

            Spike looked on in admiration, "That's one way to do it," he said in between punches.  After ramming a stake through the vamp's chest, he looked on to see Magneto standing some ways away with a smaller figure standing slightly behind him.  "Well, well, well, if it isn't the man of the hour," he remarked.  While focusing elsewhere, he didn't notice a vamp come up behind him and strike him.  He fell but brought the vamp with him.  Rolling over, he pinned the vampire beneath him then staked it. 

            Magneto smirked, "Ah, you must be Spike.  The vampire with a leash.  How inconveniencing."

            "I get by," Spike replied. 

            "So I see.  You people have been putting up quite a fight," Magneto observed.

            "Yeah, so?" 

            "I still have more tricks up my sleeve," he said.  With that, the figure behind him stepped forward and revealed herself to be Rogue.

            Gambit saw this and ran forward, "Rogue!" he shouted.

            "Hey, sugar.  Miss me?" she said.  She waited for him to reach her.

            "Are you okay?  Are you hurt?  Gambit will protect you," he reassured her.

            "Protect me?  From what?" Rogue grabbed him, and with her new strength, he couldn't get free.  "Give me a kiss, sugar."

            Gambit managed to twist away, and shouted, "Stop the simulation!"

            Immediately all the enemies disappeared, and they once again found themselves in the empty practice room.

            "Gambit what is it?" Scott asked.

            "Why is she 'ere?  Fightin' for 'im?" he demanded.

            Jean replied softly, "Remy, from what we heard, she's very confused.  He could use her to fight for him.  If this Carol Danvers is in her head, we may not even find Rogue there at all."

            Remy shook his head vehemently, "I refuse to believe dat.  She wouldn't do dat.  It won't 'appen dat way…It just won't."

            Buffy looked at him sympathetically, "I know how you feel.  It's hard to hurt the ones you love," she threw a quick glance at Angel, "But you have to do what's right.  We may not be able to reach Rogue.  She might be gone, and you have to be prepared for that.  If you can't handle that, then you shouldn't come; you'll just be in the way."

            Remy was silent for a moment, "I'm going.  If something's 'appened t'Rogue, I will kill Magneto myself."

            Scott sighed, "Remy, we can't let you do that."

            "I know, mon capitante, but…she has to be okay."

            "I'm sure she is," Kurt said soothingly, "Rogue's not one to give up easily.  Instead of dwelling on the what ifs, let's focus on the mission."

            "We still need a plan," Scott said.

            Buffy rolled her eyes, "Again with the plan!  But alright, let's go figure everything out."

Hmmmmmmmmm, I'll end here.  Hope you enjoyed.  Once again, not the best ending.  But I would like to mention that Buffy's refusal of planning does seem in congruence with her character in the last episode.  Teehee, Giles: "It could be a stapler!"  I'm sorry, but, at least to me, Buffy has become, like, the worst character on the show this season.  Well, except for Kennedy.  And Wood.  And Caleb and Eve's bad accents.  Please, Texans (and they do sound like bad Texas accents, not Southern accents) do not have accents like that.  At least, none that I've met.  She only seems to care about herself and Spike.  And while I love Spike, he _did_ have a trigger in him and Giles—while wrong in going behind her back and whatnot—did have a point in saying that Spike was a liability.  Speaking of Spike, I must say that, while, yes, he is very tasty looking, is it necessary to have him shirtless in _every single scene _he's in?  And I miss evil, wanting-to-kill-Buffy Spike.  He's much better than kinda-whiny, do-whatever-Buffy-says Spike.  Yeesh, I'm actually starting to _like_ Dawn.  How wrong is that?  I used to haaaaaate her.  But now?  Compared to lots of characters on the show, she's pretty cool.  The world has no meaning anymore.  Aaaaaaaaagh!  

Anyways, I just had to rant.  Sorry.  Starting to feel hopeful about finishing it before school ends.  Um, please read and review.  It fills my otherwise dreary world with joy.  Well, you know what I mean.


	10. I'm finally back!

OK, mis amigos, here is where the story leaves off.  And the last chapter y'all just read?  Yeah, I'm rewriting it.  I didn't get lots of reviews on it, so I got the idea that y'all just didn't like it.  Tell me if I'm wrong.  If so, I'll scratch my half-rewritten chapter and continue with the story, but if not, I'll continue rewriting.  


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